


Some Legends Are Told

by bansheequeen (queenbanshee), xtremeroswellian



Series: Legends [1]
Category: Smallville
Genre: AU, Airplane Crashes, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Dark Thursday, F/M, Friendship, JLA - Freeform, Red Blue Blur, Teamwork, Temporary Character Death, Trust Issues, vigilantes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-13
Updated: 2020-05-14
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:42:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 9
Words: 26,658
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24169810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queenbanshee/pseuds/bansheequeen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/xtremeroswellian/pseuds/xtremeroswellian
Summary: Are you all right?" The voice of the person speaking was distorted."Cla--" She started then stilled, turning to face the person who had helped her, eyes going wide when she saw the hooded man, "oh." Not Clark, definitely not Clark."You should be safe here," he told her, nodding toward the sign on the roof -- Queen Industries."Who are you?" She breathed, watching him.He smiled at her, then backed up toward the edge of the roof once more. "I gotta head back down there. People need help." Without warning, he turned and ran, leaping over to the roof of the next building over.She rushed over to the edge and watched him, eyes still wide, "wow..." she whispered as he vanished.
Relationships: Chloe Sullivan & Clark Kent, Chloe Sullivan & Lois Lane, Oliver Queen & Arthur Curry, Oliver Queen & Bart Allen, Oliver Queen & Chloe Sullivan, Oliver Queen & Victor Stone
Series: Legends [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1744465
Kudos: 8





	1. Chapter 1

Chloe had been running, she had no idea for how long but everywhere she turned, all she saw was vandalism, destruction, chaos. People had broken into every store, every building they could have, windows and doors had been punched and kicked into submission. Cars, televisions, computers, everything had been stolen but more importantly, everyone seemed to have absolutely lost it.

She kept trying to find a way out, kept trying to figure out where to go, find _safety_ , as much as it was possible in this chaos anyway, and that was when she saw it. The Luthor limo.

Without blinking, she knocked on the side of it, on the window, wherever she could reach, "stop!" She pleaded, "let me in!"

Just as she sat down, took a deep breath and Lionel ordered his driver to get them out of there, however the car suddenly started shaking, one of the windows was suddenly shattered and next thing Chloe knew, she was being pulled out of it, being dragged out of the car and shoved to the ground, four, five men grabbing at her even as she struggled, "no!" She called, "help!"

"Oh, we're gonna help you, Sweetheart," one of the men said with a smirk, leering down at her.

She tried her best to kick at him, but one of the men had wrapped his arms tightly around her legs so she was left with no choice but to scream again, "Help!" She gasped as one of them punched her in the stomach, "Clark!" She tried.

"Shut up, you little bitch," one of the other men ordered, yanking her arms behind her back and helping the man carry her toward the alley.

Chloe winced as he pulled hard on her arms, but she wasn't going to give up yet, "Mr. Luthor!" She called, taking a deep breath, "help!"

"Somebody gag her," he said, annoyed.

One of the others smirked. "Fully intend to." They wrangled her into the darkened alley way, lowering her to the ground and smirking at her.

She took a deep breath and stared up at the, sitting up quickly and just as she was about to stand up, one of the men shoved her hard back down.

Seconds later, all six of the men were on the ground around, unconscious, and she was being lifted, an arm wrapped around her waist tightly.

Chloe gasped, holding on to the arm, her eyes widening as she was pulled upward, all she could see was the chaos down below.

A moment later, she was set carefully on her feet. "Are you all right?" The voice of the person speaking was distorted.

"Cla--" She started then stilled, turning to face the person who had helped her, eyes going wide when she saw the hooded man, "oh." Not Clark, definitely not Clark.

"You should be safe here," he told her, nodding toward the sign on the roof -- Queen Industries.

"Who are you?" She breathed, watching him.

He smiled at her, then backed up toward the edge of the roof once more. "I gotta head back down there. People need help." Without warning, he turned and ran, leaping over to the roof of the next building over.

She rushed over to the edge and watched him, eyes still wide, "wow..." she whispered as he vanished.

* * *

Oliver smoothed down his red tie and glanced at himself in the mirror to make sure he looked like he'd been doing nothing but sitting in his office all day, then he made his way to the door, opening it and flashing a small smile at his secretary Debra, nodding at her. "How's the battery supply?" he questioned as he grabbed one of the few flashlights that still remained and flicked it on.

"We still have a few, but with so many people coming in..." she said quietly, trying to smile.

"Everything's going to be all right," he assured her, reaching down and patting the older woman's hand gently.

"Thank you, Mr. Queen." She told him, nodding a little.

Nodding, he headed out of the outer office and into the larger room where nearly forty people were milling about, some holding onto Styrofoam cups of water, others chatting quietly, and everyone looking nervous. He glanced around, pausing when he spotted the pretty blond he'd rescued earlier sitting alone in the corner. Chewing the inside of his cheek a moment, he drew in a breath and let it out slowly. "How's everyone doing, Folks?" he asked, raising his voice just a bit to be heard above the chatter.

A couple of people replied saying 'good' and 'thank yous', Chloe stood up and held her breath, wanting to ask a thousand questions but not sure where to start.

Oliver nodded a little, glancing around once more. "I know everyone's a little scared, and we don't know exactly what's going on, but I can assure you that you're all completely safe here. We've got plenty of food and water for anyone who needs it, and you're all welcome and encouraged to stick around until things outside have calmed down. Please make yourselves comfortable."

People thanked him once more and Chloe pursed her lips together, approaching him a moment later, "Mr. Queen?"

He turned, a little surprised to see the blond at his side. He offered her a gentle smile. "Yes?"

Chloe tried for a smile and looked up at him, "I know the power is out and everything is offline right now, but do you have anything that is actually working?"

Oliver cocked his head to the side a little, curious. "Not that I'm aware of right now," he said carefully. "Everything from computers to cell phones and cars seem to be out of commission."

"So absolutely no communication with the outside world," she breathed, nodding a little.

He gazed at her, his expression softening. "I'm sure everything will be fine, Miss," he said gently. 

"I'm sure," she tried for a smile but it didn't reach her eyes, "I just wanted to check, thank you."

"Can I get you something?" he offered, watching her closely.

Chloe held her breath and shook her head, "thank you, you're doing a lot for everyone here already," of course he had no idea, none of them did, of what was really happening out there and chances were, they were going to become Zod's slaves or something within hours, she had no idea how long an alien invasion took to complete.

Oliver nodded a little, still gazing at her. "All right. I'll be around here if you need something. Just come find me, all right?"

"Thank you--" Chloe started then paused as someone else approached them.

"Bossman!"

Oliver turned to look as Bart approached him with wide eyes. He raised his eyebrows a little.

Chloe stilled and stared at the younger man, she knew him, she just couldn't remember his name...

"Cy-- Vic is coming back in, there's a little girl, she's really hurt." Bart told him, eyes wide.

"Show me." Oliver followed him instantly, moving away from Chloe, his eyes wide, as well.

Bart nodded and started back toward the stairs, quickly but at a pace Oliver could keep up with.

Without blinking, Chloe followed, her eyes also wide, she had to make sure that whatever that had hurt this kid was human, she had no idea how it would start.

They made their way down the stairs, meeting Victor halfway as he made his way up the steps.

Oliver sucked in a breath as he found himself looking down at the little girl--she couldn't have been more than five or six years old, and there was a symbol shaped like a Z burned into her arm. She seemed to be struggling to breathe as she lay unconscious in his friend's arms. "God."

Chloe had been silent until she saw the little girl, her eyes widening as she gasped quietly, lifting her hand to cover her mouth.

Bart and Victor both turned to look at the intruder and stilled.

Oliver turned, as well, and he blinked a couple of times in surprise. "Bring her upstairs," he said to Vic, looking at Chloe. "Come on, Miss."

"Wait," Bart said, frowning, "you're Clark's friend."

Chloe held her breath, focusing on the younger boy for a moment and nodding a little before looking at the little girl, "she's been burned," she told them, "it, hm, it looks like that's what happened anyway," she knew it was what had happened, but she didn't want to look suspicious.

Feeling completely confused, Oliver glanced between them, wondering who Clark was.

Victor's eyes widened a little. " _Chloe?_ "

She pursed her lips together and blinked, focusing on Victor's face, her eyes widening a little, she'd been so focused on the little girl and what it meant for her to have the symbol, she hadn't noticed she knew him too, "Victor, hi." She said quietly then stood up straight, Clark had told her about how he was half man, half machine so she was glad he was out there, "have you seen any others?" She asked, "with that symbol?"

He shook his head a little, looking at her worriedly, and then at Oliver, then back once more. "You all right?"

"I'm okay," she hesitated for a moment, "have you seen Clark?"

Bart shook his head a little, looking from her back to Vic.

He shook his head, too. "Afraid not."

"Let's move this upstairs. Hopefully someone up there is a medical professional," Oliver said quietly, reaching out and carefully taking the girl from Victor.

Chloe nodded slightly, then paused and looked at Victor, "I'm sure you are needed out there."

His eyes widened just a little at that, and he shot a look at Bart before nodding and heading back down the stairs without another word.

Oliver was already halfway back up the steps as Victor left. "Is anyone here a doctor? A nurse? A paramedic?" His voice was calm, but loud.

Bart kept his eyes on Chloe on the way up, his own eyes still wide.

"I--" a woman said, standing up, "I'm a nurse."

He moved over to where she was. "She's not breathing right," he told her. "Can you help her?"

Nodding, she looked over at the little girl, feeling her pulse, "I'll need help."

"I'll help," Chloe offered instantly, looking between Bart and Oliver then at the little girl. It was better if she was doing something.

"Do you have medical training?" he asked, glancing at her as he handed the girl over to the nurse.

"No," she told him, looking up at him, "but I don't think that matters right now."

He smiled faintly at that, nodding a little. "You're right." He rested a hand lightly on her shoulder blade. "I'm sure she'll be glad to have the help. Find me if there's anything I can do."

With a deep breath, Chloe nodded a little, "thank you," she told him then looked at the nurse as the woman started to walk away from the group, "just tell me what to do."

Oliver gazed at her a moment, then headed over to where Bart still stood a few feet away. He nodded slightly toward his office. "Come on," he murmured.

Bart watched the three of them go for a moment then nodded, following Oliver silently.

He nodded at Debra once more, then led the way inside his office, holding the door open for the younger man, then shutting it behind him.

"This is seriously messed up, man," Bart said as soon as Oliver closed the door.

"No kidding," he agreed, raking a hand through his hair.

"Some people were saying they saw who did that to the little girl," he told him, frowning.

Oliver raised his eyebrows. "Did they say who it was?" he asked, shaking his head.

Bart nodded, an unusually grim look on his face, "Lex."

He stared at Bart for a long moment. "Well, I wouldn't put anything past him." His jaw tightened a little.

"It gets worse man," he told him, shaking his head, "they were saying he did that with his _eyes_."

"You're telling me that Lex Luthor burned that little girl with...what? Laser eyes?" His mouth hung open a little.

"I don't know dude, but I met someone before who could shoot fire off his eyes so it could be true," he told him, shaking his head, "but if Luthor has powers, I gotta say, we're way more screwed than we thought."

Oliver forced himself to take a deep breath. "All right, go back out there, let Vic and AC know what you told me, and keep your eyes open. If you see Lex, don't confront him. Just keep rounding up people who need help."

"Then what? We're just gonna let him keep getting away with it?" Bart asked incredulously.

"Of course not. But we're not going to confront him without a little more intel, or when we're on our own, either," he said patiently. He hadn't known Bart as long as he'd known the others, and he knew the kid still had the tendency to want to do things solo. But he was coming around as a team player. Ollie just had to be patient with him. Besides, he liked Bart, even if the kid ate everything in his kitchen on a nearly weekly basis, and he seemed to fit in well with Vic and AC, too.

Bart took a deep breath then nodded a little, "yeah," he told him, "okay, I'm gonna go help the others."

"We'll get him, Bart." He gazed intently at the younger man, offering him a small but reassuring smile.

He nodded a little then walked out of the room, there were too many people outside for him to speed out, even if he wanted nothing more than to do just that and not stop until he'd found Lex.

Sighing softly, he made his way back out into the room to see what he could to help out.


	2. Chapter 2

It was nearly six in the morning when Oliver made his way slowly up the stairwell, tired and drained from the last twenty-four hours. He hadn't slept, he was covered in dirt, his tie was ripped...and yet he was also somehow wide awake. Adrenaline, he figured. Still clutching onto the medical supplies he'd managed to get from the hospital--where every hallway was lined with patients waiting to be seen--he trudged up yet another set of steps, nearly running right into a figure who was heading down them.

Chloe stilled when she heard someone. It was light out but there were no windows in the stairs or any kind of emergency lights, "who is there?" She asked, wishing she had some kind of weapon.

He paused at the question, recognizing her voice almost immediately. "Chloe? It's...Oliver Queen," he said.

"Oh," she frowned, surprised he'd recognized her just by her voice or had remembered her name at all, "yes, it's me."

"Are you all right?" he asked, worried.

"Yeah," Chloe told him quietly, taking a couple more steps down, "were you outside?"

Oliver drew in a breath. "Yeah. I made a quick run to the hospital." If you could call a three hour trip down two blocks _quick_.

"How are things out there?" She asked hesitantly.

"Still pretty bad," he said honestly, fumbling around before locating the flashlight and flipping it on. "Are you leaving?"

Chloe blinked a couple of times at the light then took a deep breath and nodded slightly. "Yeah, I can't just sit here."

He gazed at her. "It's not safe out there," he said quietly, glancing down at his ripped tie and torn shirt.

"Two of my best friends were in the middle of this," she told him, shaking her head, "I have to find them."

Oliver was quiet for a moment. "Give me a few minutes, and I'll come with you."

"No," she said, eyes widening then shook her head, "you're helping a bunch of people here, they need you more than I do."

"There's really nothing I can do here," he said with a small smile. "At least not once I deliver these medical supplies to our resident nurse."

With a deep breath, Chloe considered him for a moment then held out her hands, "I'll help."

She'd been doing a lot of that, he realized, from helping take care of the little girl the night before to calming down another woman having an anxiety attack, to making sure there was enough water to go around.

...not that he'd been paying her extra attention.

Nodding a little, he shifted some of the supplies into her arms. "Thanks," he said sincerely.

Pursing her lips together, she nodded, shifting the supplies in her arms until they were secured then she started up the stairs, "I was hoping things would have calmed down by now."

"Maybe when it gets a little lighter outside it will," he said, glancing at her sideways as they made their way toward the area where everyone was gathered.

"Have you seen those symbols anywhere else while you were out?" She asked curiously, glancing up at him.

"Several places," he told her with a slight nod. "Any idea what they are?"

"No," she lied, her stomach in knots, "but when the computers first went crazy, they were all over the screen."

Yeah, he'd seen that much with his own eyes, as well. "Hm," he murmured, his eyebrows furrowing a little.

"Hm?" Chloe echoed, arching her eyebrows curiously as she looked over at him.

"Just thinking," he assured her.

"Oh," she nodded a little and took a deep breath as they reached the top of the stairs.

"So where were you before you wound up here?" he asked quietly, glancing at her once more.

"At the Daily Planet," she told him, pursing her lips together, "I made the mistake of trying to leave and got caught in the chaos but this guy helped me."

"The Daily Planet, huh? Are you a reporter?" he asked, raising his eyebrows a little.

"Yeah," she told him, looking up at him, "and hopefully when things get back to normal my editor will let me print something about how great you've been through all this."

He smiled faintly at that. "It's really not necessary," he told her.

"Yes it is," she said seriously, "everyone else was shoving people out of their businesses for fear they would damage something and you have been welcoming people inside and keeping them safe."

"It's the right thing to do," he said softly.

"I agree," she said quietly, "but obviously not a lot of people are willing to do it."

"You've been helping out a lot," he commented. "Pretty much since I first saw you here."

"It's not out of kindness," she told him, smiling a little, "I'll go crazy if I sit still."

A grin touched his mouth. "Well, so it benefits you and others. I don't think that means it's less of a kind thing," he assured her.

"Glad to hear it," she told him, smiling a little more as they reached the room the other people were in, "where should we put this?"

Oliver glanced around, then nodded over to the corner where the nurse was sitting with the little girl, who was curled up on her lap asleep. "Let's put it over by them."

Chloe held her breath and watched the girl as she placed everything on the floor as quietly as possible, "how is she doing?" She asked the nurse.

"A little better. But she needs more care than I can give her here," she admitted.

Oliver drew in a breath, glancing around. "The hospital here isn't in good shape, I'm afraid," he told her, looking worried.

"Hopefully she won't be here much longer," Chloe said quietly, standing back up.

Chewing the inside of his cheek, he gave them both a small smile, crossing the room to Bart. "You wanna do a quick run and see what other cities are like?" His voice was just loud enough for Bart to hear him.

Bart blinked and looked over at Oliver, nodding a little, "yeah? What am I looking for?"

"A hospital that's not overflowing. The little girl needs more help than we can provide here," he said softly.

He considered for a moment then nodded, "yeah, I'll be right back." He walked to the door then sped down the stairs and out of the building.

Blowing out a breath, he looked around the small crowd. Half of the people were sleeping in chairs and on the sofas, some were on the floor. A couple of them were playing a card game via flashlight. At least everyone seemed calm and comfortable enough.

A moment later, Bart walked back in and nodded at Oliver, approaching him, "I found a place," he told him, "get her outside on her own and I'll run her there and stay with her until they are sure she's okay."

Nodding a little, Oliver cast a glance at the nurse. "I'll be right back." He made his way back over to the woman. "Ma'am? My friend found a clinic that can take her," he said quietly.

The nurse looked up with wide eyes, "should I come with her?"

Chloe turned her attention to Oliver too, surprised.

"Actually, if you wouldn't mind staying, we may have more people needing your help when the sun rises." He gazed at her intently. "I'm gonna send her with some of my security team, so they'll be safe."

The nurse hesitated a little then shifted the little girl in her arms, raising her slightly toward Oliver.

Oliver took the girl carefully, cradling her against him and offering her a small, reassuring smile. "She'll be in good hands," he promised, glancing briefly at Chloe before making his way back over to Bart.

Chloe watched Oliver then nodded a little at the nurse who seemed worried, "hopefully she'll be okay," she told her, offering her a small smile.

Bart held his breath and nodded, stepping forward and holding out his arms to take the girl from Oliver, "I'll check in once I know how she's doing," he promised.

"Thanks, Bart," he said quietly, watching him head toward the door.

A moment later, Chloe approached Oliver, "do you know where he's taking her?"

Oliver shook his head. "He said he'd found a place and he'd stay with her until he knew she was going to be okay."

"Okay," she nodded a little, "I hope they can help her."

"I'm sure she'll be okay," he said softly, nodding as well.

Nodding slightly, she cocked her head a little, "are you still okay with going back out there?"

Oliver turned his head to look at her. "If you're sure you want to, I'm in." He wasn't going to let her venture out there by himself if he could help it.

With a deep breath, she nodded a little. She was afraid of going out by herself if she was honest, if it hadn't been for the man in green, she didn't even want to think about what would have happened to her the previous night.

"All right. Let me grab my jacket and we'll get going," he told her, heading toward his office.

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded a little, watching him for a moment. She just hoped Clark and Lana were okay, wherever they were.

* * *

Moments later found them standing at the exit of the building, Oliver glancing sideways at her as they looked out at all the destruction. "You all right?" His voice was quiet.

With a deep breath, she nodded slightly, "yeah," Chloe said quietly, "it's just... a lot different."

"Yes," he agreed, looking back outside once more. "Where are we going?"

"LuthorCorp," she said, glancing over at him.

Oliver raised his eyebrows a little and looked at her once more. "You think your friends will be at LuthorCorp?" He eyed her warily, suddenly not so sure she was going to be an ally.

"There is a possibility," she told him, looking up at him.

He met her eyes, nodding slightly and watching her closely. "It's a few blocks. We better get started."

Looking over at him for a moment, Chloe nodded then started in the direction of LuthorCorp. "Did you hear anything about Lex Luthor's whereabouts while you were out?"

Oliver cast a glance at her, following her outside and then falling into step with her. "Can't say that I did. He a friend of yours?" he asked casually.

Chloe's eyes narrowed at that and she shook her head, "hardly."

"Good. I was starting to question if my instincts about you had been wrong." He smiled faintly, looking around and making sure they were in the clear.

"I take it you're not a big fan of the younger Luthor either?" She asked, glancing at him out of the corner of her eyes but keeping her attention on their surroundings.

"I'm not a fan of either Luthor, to be honest," he informed her.

She nodded a little, she hadn't been either, but Lionel had helped her the previous night so maybe there had been some change in him after all, "business?"

His jaw tightened just a little. "They're not exactly on the up-and-up in the business world." _Or in any other world, for that matter,_ he thought.

Chloe nodded a little and smirked, "no, not exactly." Understatement of the year.

"Let's just say there's no love lost between myself and the Luthor's," he told her, narrowing his eyes as a couple of guys began to cross the street toward them.

She noticed the guys too and instinctively stepped closer to Oliver, "do you have any weapons?" She murmured, it probably would have been smarter to ask him this _before_ they left but she couldn't aim for the life of her and somehow, she didn't think he'd be much better.

"Won't need them," he told her, stepping in front of her a little and casting her a glance.

Frowning, she looked up at him questioningly, "what are you _doing_?"

"I didn't survive two long years on a wild deserted island and not learn a thing or two." He winked at her.

"Hey, rich boy, give me your wallet!" one of the men ordered, pulling out a knife.

"Oh," she said, arching her eyebrows as she suddenly remembered reading all about that. _Right_. She did feel a little bit better now.

"You too, bitch," the second man said, approaching them.

Oliver narrowed his eyes even more at the second man, and without warning, kicked him hard in the stomach, knocking him onto the ground before casting the other man a dark glare. "You sure you want to do this?" he asked, raising his eyebrows.

Chloe gasped, then blinked, arching her eyebrows, clearly impressed by how fast Oliver had taken him down.

The man with the knife hesitated, looked down at his friend, then ran.

Smirking, Oliver leaned down over the other man, yanking him off the ground by his jacket. "I think you owe the lady an apology," he informed him.

Pausing, Chloe cocked her head and placed her hands on her hips, waiting. A smirk slowly forming on her lips.

"Sorry," he gasped, eyes wide.

"That's better." He shoved him backwards a little, letting him go. "Next time think twice before you attempt to mug someone. And tell two friends!" he called after him as the man turned around and ran.

She turned to watch as the man ran away too then looked up at Oliver once more, "not bad..." she said, still surprised.

Oliver arched an eyebrow. "Not bad?" he echoed.

She grinned softly and shrugged, "okay, it was really good."

He grinned back at her. "Better," he said with a wink, glancing around.

Chloe took a deep breath and started again in the direction of LuthorCorp. Swallowing hard when she saw the Luthor limo parked a few feet away, two of the doors had been ripped off of it.

Oliver followed her gaze, raising his eyebrows. "Well that doesn't bode well," he murmured, heading toward it cautiously.

"Lionel was trying to get away last night, he didn't make it far," she told him quietly.

He glanced over at her. "The car didn't fair so well, either."

"No," Chloe whispered, "I was inside of it."

Oliver paused, glancing inside the car and shaking his head. "Well, there's no one inside it now." His voice grew quiet and he returned to her side.

"Yeah," she said, glancing at it too then looking at him, "we should keep going."

Nodding, he offered her his arm. "Stay close," he said quietly.

Pursing her lips together, she nodded a little and shifted closer, taking his arm.

"Let's find your friends."


	3. Chapter 3

They had looked all over LuthorCorp for hours, Chloe was breathless as they reached the roof. Oliver had had to stop a couple of guys from getting rough on the way up but other than that, they hadn't found anyone in the building. She held onto her side once they were out on the roof, taking deep breaths. She was so not used to that many stairs and Oliver moved way faster than she was capable of but she'd been too embarrassed to ask him to slow down.

"Hey, are you all right?" He hesitantly rested a hand on her back, gazing at her with worried eyes.

"Yeah," she breathed, swallowing and nodding as she looked up at him, "just... more exercise... than I'm... used to." She gasped, smiling awkwardly.

He smiled a bit at that, wrapping his arm around her waist and leading her over to the corner where there was a small elevated section of concrete. "Sit," he said gently.

Chloe had no choice in the matter so she sat down, stitches on her side still, "I'm okay." She breathed, looking up at him.

Nodding a little, he gazed at her. "Just relax and take a breather."

She nodded and leaned back against the wall, taking a couple of deep breaths.

He watched her for a moment, then looked over the edge of the building, tensing a little as he got a good look at the city for the first time in daylight. There were still fires burning, though fewer than there had been last night. Cars were wrecked, and torn apart, windows of shops below shattered from looters. There was going to be a hell of a lot of work to do when this was all over--assuming it would actually come to an end at some point.

A long moment later, Chloe finally stood up again and joined him by the edge of the room and then she stilled, her eyes widening, "how did they manage _that_?" She breathed. The Daily Planet globe was no longer attached to the top of the building but instead, it lay shattered in the middle of the street.

Oliver shook his head a little. "I don't know," he murmured, glancing at her sideways. He just hoped like hell no one was beneath it when it hit the ground.

"This is horrible," she said quietly, her eyes a little teary as she looked around, her chest tight. She had to find Clark before it got dark, or it would be a lot worse than this.

"Hey." His voice was quiet as he turned to look at her.

She took a deep breath and shook her head a little, "I need to find my friend." If he was okay, Chloe knew he'd never have let this happen so chances were, Lex had gotten to him and... she didn't want to think of the possibilities.

"We will," he said gently. "And we'll get things in Metropolis back to normal."

Pursing her lips together, she wrapped her arms around herself then nodded a little, "I hope so."

"All right. So this friend of yours. Where else might he or she have gone?"

"He was trying to find Lex," she sighed softly, "we heard that... he was involved in the blackout."

Oliver cocked his head to the side. "Involved how? Any idea?"

"Not really," Chloe lied, looking back down at the city. She couldn't tell him.

He watched her for a moment. "That's too bad," he murmured. "If I could figure out how, I could have people start working to undo whatever it is he's done." He looked out over the city once more, as well.

She held her breath. There was no way he could undo anything that had been done with Kryptonian technology, but it was a nice thought, "that'd be too easy, wouldn't it?"

A faint smile touched his mouth. "You think I'm putting too much stock in my own abilities to make things better, don't you?" Not that he could blame her.

"No, that's not it," she said quietly, she didn't really have a lot of hope now that she was seeing the state Metropolis was in, "I just think this is much bigger than we can understand."

He paused at her choice of words. Interesting. Drawing in a breath, he simply nodded a little, glancing at her sideways. "We'll just have to take it one step at a time."

"We don't have much of a choice right now." She said quietly, her stomach was tight, her shoulders felt heavy and there was a lump in her throat, "I really need to find my way to a town a couple of hours outside of Metropolis," she said quietly, "I'm sure I can find a car someone in LuthorCorp's parking lot, but you really should get back to the people you're helping."

"Right now I'm helping you," he said just as quietly, shaking his head. "And I'm not the kind of guy who leaves a job halfway done. Just not who I am."

"I can't drag you away like that, Mr. Queen. Smallville is at least two hours away from here." She said quietly.

"You're not dragging me. I need to make sure you stay safe. As you've noticed, things out here aren't exactly friendly anymore." He gazed at her. "My people will take care of the others back at my office. I'm going to help you find your friend."

Chloe paused and looked up at him, searching his eyes a little, "why are you helping _me_?"

Oliver considered her question for a moment. "Why _not_ you?"

"I don't know," she said quietly, shrugging as she looked down at the city once more, "there are a lot of people who need help out there, at least I'm not hurt." Thanks to the elusive hero from the previous night she wasn't.

"Personally I'd like to keep it that way," he told her, looking down, as well. "And I believe that helping one person makes a world of difference to that person, even if I can't help the entire world."

Pursing her lips together, Chloe turned to look at him for a moment, that was definitely not something she'd heard before. Apparently Oliver had a completely different outlook on things than Clark, "I guess so."

"So." He turned to face her, gazing at her intently. "Smallville, huh?"

Nodding, she took a deep breath, "that's where we're from."

"Then we'd better look for a ride," he said quietly.

"Yeah," Chloe agreed quietly, nodding a little and looking up at him, "let's go."

Oliver met her eyes and offered her a gentle smile before nodding and glancing toward the stairwell. "We can take it slow going down," he told her, offering her his arm.

She hesitated for a moment then took his arm, "going down isn't nearly as hard, but we should stop in one of the top floors and get some water."

"We can do that," he assured her.

"Okay." Chloe said, looking up at him then starting back down the stairs, "oh and... maybe take a look at the main office."

Oliver raised an eyebrow at that. "To see what we can dig up on Lex?"

Biting down on her bottom lip, Chloe nodded slightly, "we're already here anyway, right?"

He glanced at her sideways, a smile tugging at his mouth. "We are."

She held her breath, looking up at him, "I can do it on my own if it makes you uncomfortable," wouldn't be the first time.

"If Lex really is involved in all of this somehow, he needs to be brought to justice. And sometimes the ends justify the means." He met her eyes.

Chloe held his gaze, searching his eyes and smiling just a little, nodding, "I couldn't agree more." Especially when it came to the Luthors.

"Then let's do a little breaking and entering," he said, winking at her.

She nodded and took a deep breath, starting down the stairs and pulling him with her.

Oliver smiled as they headed down the stairs. "So I have to ask, you realize."

Chloe frowned a little at that and glanced up at him, "ask what?"

"What your interest in bringing down Lex is."

She blinked and looked up at him, "you mean other than the fact that he's somehow connected to this?"

Oliver nodded a little. "It seemed more personal," he admitted.

"I've known them for a while," she told him quietly then shook her head, "I know they are not good people."

"You're not wrong," he said just as quietly.

"What about you?" She asked, cocking her head to look at him.

"Lex and I went to high school together," Oliver told her, his expression grim. "He wasn't a good guy then, and from what I can tell, he hasn't changed."

"If anything, he's gotten worse," Chloe told him quietly then shook her head, "my other close friend is dating him."

"Then she's in for a rude awakening."

"I know," she murmured, pursing her lips together and looking back down.

Oliver glanced at her, leading her down the last few steps to the floor that Lex's office was on. He opened the door, glancing inside and looking around warily. Everything was still and silent. If they had been in a horror movie, now was the time that the serial killer or creature would jump out and try to kill them.

Chloe held her breath too. Knowing that Zod was in Lex's body and that he had all the powers Clark had in addition to others, possibly, was more than a little unnerving. But the office seemed completely stilled so she took a few steps forward cautiously. It didn't matter because if he was there, they were both dead no matter how careful they were.

"Seems like we're the only ones here," he murmured, stepping into the corridor.

"Hopefully," she said quietly, advancing down toward the office.

Oliver led the way, peering into other offices as they went, glad that the building was so full of windows and that the day was bright and sunny. It was pretty helpful considering the lack of electricity. He relaxed just a little, but still kept on guard as they made their way toward Lex's office.

Chloe walked straight down the hall and to where she knew the office was, not wanting to waste time in case Lex did show up, chances were, he also had Clark's super hearing and that was not good at all. With a deep breath, she pushed at the glass doors, glad they slid right open and made her way inside.

He raised his eyebrows a little, surprised by how bold she was, and quickly followed her inside, glad that Lex clearly wasn't there.

She was more than a little relieved to find the office empty, without hesitation, she moved behind the desk, taking the chair and booting up the laptop. She knew Fine, or better yet, Brainiac had started everything from the Planet, but maybe there was something there too. Without wasting time, while the laptop booted up, she started opening the desk drawers, looking inside of them.

He watched her for a moment, then moved over to the file cabinets and opened the first drawer. He didn't expect to find much, if anything on 33.1, but he wasn't going to take the chance and risk missing out on valuable information, either.

Chloe glanced up at him and hesitated for a second, considering her words just for a moment, "let me know if you find anything with those weird symbols on it," she said. If there was anything about kryptonian information in here, she had to bring it with her and hope there were no duplicates anywhere because if Lex survived this, it was going to be hard enough to keep from him that aliens did exist and that Clark was one of them.

He glanced over at her curiously, knowing she knew more than she was letting on. But he didn't have to let her know that yet. "Sure thing," he agreed, pausing for a moment. "And if you happen to find anything on that computer about a project with some numbers, let me know?"

"Some numbers?" She asked curiously, cocking her head and looking over at him once more as the computer still tried to boot up.

"Specifically the numbers 33.1," he told her, flipping through the files.

She stilled completely at that, her eyes widening. How the hell did he know about 33.1? Although, if he knew Victor, chances were, he had mentioned what Lex had done to him, but still. Shifting on the chair, she nodded a little, "yeah," Chloe breathed, "sure."

Oliver glanced at her from the corner of his eye, taking note of the surprise on her features. She knew about 33.1, he realized, even though he didn't say anything. "Thanks. "

Sighing, she glared at the laptop and pulled it shut a moment after the black screen was filled with kryptonian symbols, "laptop isn't working," she announced then started back through the drawers.

"Mine wasn't either," he told her, flipping through more files.

"All of the networks have been infected," she said, explaining as much as she could.

"Infected?" he echoed, glancing at her once more. "Like with a computer virus?"

"Yeah," she told him quietly, "like Y2K was supposed to be, it affected every single electronic."

He chewed the inside of his cheek, considering. This definitely wasn't Y2K, but it was affecting things the way it had been rumored it would. He'd have to get Victor on the case as soon as possible. "Well, that's not good."

"No, it's not," Chloe sighed softly, closing the drawer and standing, "did you find anything?"

"Only his employees' records, which...not so useful." He sighed, as well.

Nodding slightly, Chloe hesitated then picked up the laptop, "we should go."

Oliver smirked when she tucked Lex's laptop under her arm. "Yeah." Nodding, he led the way to the door once again.

She was surprised he didn't say anything about the laptop, but didn't think twice about it and started toward the door. "I think the garage starts on the third floor."

"All right. We'll see if we can't find a vehicle that works and isn't wrecked," he told her.

"Yeah." She breathed, "hopefully we'll be able to." Chloe just needed to make sure they got to Smallville, she'd find a way to get rid of him if things didn't look good because chances were, she was going to have to make a trip to the arctic.

Within moments, they'd made their way to the third floor garage. It was eerily silent. The hair on the back of his neck was standing up and he paused in his tracks, putting an arm out to keep Chloe from going any farther, as well.

Chloe stilled and looked around then up at him questioningly but remaining silent.

Oliver glanced at her briefly, shaking his head a little. And that's when he heard it. Just once, soft--a footstep. He tensed, his gaze searching the parking garage for anything amiss.

She heard it too, tensing as she stood up straighter, looking around, her heart beating faster.

He held his breath, waiting, waiting and then...a large man stepped into view a few feet away. Oliver shifted, keeping Chloe behind him as best he could as he regarded the man. "We don't want any trouble," he said calmly, his voice firm.

This time, she didn't try to make her forward, she stayed behind him, shielding the laptop from view.

"What are you doing here?" He demanded, his voice thick, deep.

"Looking for other people who need help," Oliver informed him.

"Get out." He told them, popping his knuckles.

Chloe was sure she'd seen him before, she could only assume he was one of the LuthorCorp securities considering his size and the way he was dressed.

"That's what we're doing," he responded, eyeing the larger man warily. "There doesn't seem to be anyone else in the building. Are _you_ sure you're safe here?"

"I'm the one keeping it that way," he said, taking a few steps closer and lifting a gun toward Oliver.

Swallowing hard, Chloe grabbed a fistful of Oliver's jacket and tugged on it, pulling him backwards with her, "come on."

Nodding a little, he glanced at Chloe, then back at the man. "We're leaving," he said, putting his arm around her and guiding her toward the garage stairwell.

She turned quickly so she could conceal the laptop and started toward the stairs again.

Oliver glanced back at the man warily, relieved he didn't seem to be following them, then opened the door for her, letting her duck into the stairwell before he followed suit. "That was close," he mumbled.

"Yeah," she breathed, "hopefully we can find a car in the lower levels," she said quietly, glancing up at him, "he's a security guy here, I guess."

"Apparently."

"Are you okay?" She asked quietly, glancing at him.

He raised his eyebrows a little, nodding. "Yeah, I'm fine. Are _you_ okay?"

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded a little, pausing at the floor below and looking toward the garage door, "should we try here?"

Oliver glanced toward the landing they'd just descended from. "We're going to have to be quick or tall, dark and gun-wielding probably won't give us a second chance." And considering he had no weapons with him, he didn't think taking a chance like that made for great odds.

With a deep breath she nodded and pushed the door open, stepping out into the garage and almost sighing in relief when she saw a handful of cars parked there, "okay let's just pick one and go."

Oliver glanced around. "Any preferences?"

She considered then went straight to the sports car, "faster," she explained, reaching for the door and opening it, smirking, "thank god for valet, the key is in here."

"And here I was looking forward to showing you how to hotwire a car," he joked, raising his eyebrows. He moved around to the passenger seat and climbed in.

"You can do that?" She asked, surprised.

He couldn't help but flash her a cocky grin. "Adventures of being a teenager."

"You will definitely have to teach me how to at some point," without waiting for an answer, she got in on the driver's side and dropped the laptop in the narrow back seat then started the car. Lex's car.

Oliver reached back and pulled his seatbelt on. "Smallville, here we come."

Chloe smirked a little at that then, tire screeching, although she honestly had no idea how she'd done that, she drove down the ramp and out of the garage.


	4. Chapter 4

Oliver wasn't terribly surprised to see just how _small_ Smallville was. He'd been to a lot of big cities, but he'd also been to a lot of small towns. Plus Victor, Bart, and A.C. had all filled him in on the town--about the weird things that happened because of the meteor rocks from the two meteor showers the place had been subjected to in a little over a decade. He knew plenty about meta-humans considering the three people he spent the most time with _were_ meta-humans with amazing abilities. Glancing sideways at Chloe as she drove the little red sports car, he couldn't help but wonder who she really was. Clearly Bart and Victor had both met her before--as well as some guy named Clark. He had a lot of unanswered questions, but he had a feeling that she did, too, so he kept silent since he wasn't exactly ready to explain he was the guy in green leather that had saved her from being attacked two nights ago.

"I'll try my friend's farm first," she told him as they drove right through Smallville's main street, "if we can't find him there, we will try the Luthor Mansion." And then she would dump him there and run to the caves.

Somehow he also wasn't surprised her friend lived on a farm, considering the majority of the town seemed to consist of farm property. "All right," he said easily, nodding.

"How do you know Bart and Victor?" She asked curiously, her interest mostly on how he knew Victor, more importantly, _how well_ he knew the other man. Chloe didn't know much about him either but she knew all that Clark had filled her in and all about what Lex had done to him.

"They work for me," he told her, glancing at her sideways. "At Queen Industries."

"Oh," she nodded a little, she had figured as much when Bart called him boss, she'd been expecting more information, but didn't push it. She'd ask Victor if she ran into him again.

"How about you?" he asked just as curiously.

"Through this friend of mine," she said, shrugging softly, "Clark met them in Metropolis a while back."

Oliver pursed his lips a little, nodding. "The friend whose farm we're heading toward?"

"Yeah," she said, sitting up as she saw the farm at a distance, her stomach in knots.

He watched her carefully, nodding once more, then glancing in the direction she was looking. He could practically feel the tension rolling off her.

As they drove down the dirty road, she could see that while the house seemed to be okay, something definitely had happened in the barn, the doors were hanging off its hinges and there was hole in place of the window upstairs, "something isn't right," she murmured.

"So the barn wasn't wrecked the last time you were here?" he asked quietly, sitting up a little straighter in his seat.

Chloe shook her head a little as she parked, getting out of the car as quickly as possible, "Clark?" She called, "Mrs. Kent?"

Drawing in a breath, he climbed out of the car as well, not liking the fact that once more, his body felt tense as he followed her.

"Clark?" Chloe called again, approaching the barn, her stomach tight, but she didn't stop. Walking as fast as her short legs would allow her, she walked right into the barn then stilled. Zod's symbol had been burned against one of the walls.

Oliver glanced around warily, stilling when he saw not the symbol, but something else. Something that she clearly hadn't seen.

A body, lying on the floor.

She glanced at Oliver then paused at the look on his face, following his gaze to the corner of the farm, amongst the hay, her heart stopping, "Clark!" She called, running to him an instant later.

Oliver quickly followed her, kneeling down beside the man's still body. He hesitantly reached down and pressed two fingers to his throat, not finding a pulse.

"Clark," she called, her hands starting to shake as she shifted him, there was blood everywhere but Clark couldn't get _hurt_ , "Clark, wake up," she pleaded, lifting his hand and swallowing hard as her vision was blurred by tears.

He held his breath, his chest tightening at the pained, devastated expression on her face. "He's gone," Oliver whispered.

"He can't," she murmured, shaking her head. He didn't understand, she didn't expect him to. With a deep breath, she stood up, hooking her arms under both of Clark's arms and trying to drag him toward the door. He needed sun.

"Chloe, what are you doing?" he asked gently, reaching out and touching her shoulder.

She sniffed and shook her head a little, "he needs sun, he'll be okay."

"Chloe." His voice was soft, worried.

"Help me," she said, frowning up at him.

Oliver held his breath, staring at her for a moment, then nodding. "Let go," he said quietly, sliding his arms beneath the other man's. His skin was cold to the touch.

She hesitated then let go of him, holding her breath and stepping back.

He glanced at her as he tugged the other man along the barn floor, dragging him slowly out of the building and out into the open. He carefully set him down once more, wondering if the man was some kind of meta-human that was dependent on solar energy. He'd heard stranger things.

"Clark," she breathed, kneeling by him once he was outside, "please wake up," she murmured, cupping his cheek. It still felt cold under her touch, but it had to work.

Oliver watched intently, hoping against all logic that the other man really would somehow wake up. But his body remained still and lifeless. After a few more moments, he hesitantly reached down and rested his hand on her shoulder. "Chloe."

She swallowed hard and sniffed quietly, shaking her head.

"I'm so sorry," he whispered, kneeling beside her.

"I don't understand," she whispered.

"We need to call the police," he whispered back.

Her eyes widened a little, she had no idea what to do, she couldn't send Clark to a doctor... although he obviously didn't have his powers, maybe they could help but... "there are no phones."

He winced at that. "Right," he murmured. "One of us will have to drive to get help then." He gazed at her.

"I won't leave him," she said firmly.

"All right. Then I'll go. Do you guys have a sheriff's office?" he asked gently.

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded, "down main, it will be on your left."

"Will you be all right here?" He searched her eyes, his hand still resting lightly on her shoulder.

She swallowed then nodded, looking back down at Clark.

"All right. I'll be back as soon as possible," he whispered, glancing at the man, and then back at Chloe before rising to his feet and quickly heading for the car.

Chloe sat down on the ground and took a deep breath, reaching for Clark's hand and watching him closely, "you have to be okay."

* * *

A little over two hours later, Oliver stood silently beside Chloe as two paramedics wheeled Clark Kent's lifeless body away from the barn and toward their ambulance. The sheriff was still searching the barn, as well as several other officers she'd radioed to join her. Clearly the man had been murdered, from what he could tell, stabbed to death, but there was no sign of the weapon that had been used, or of whoever had murdered him.

He drew in a breath, glancing sideways at Chloe, his expression one of concern. She'd fallen silent in the last half hour, her face drained of all color.

When the fact that Clark had been stabbed was pointed out to Chloe, she felt all hope draining from her. There was one explanation, the one explanation she hadn't thought of: Lex or Brainiac had stabbed Clark with the kryptonian blade Jor-El had given him to kill Zod's vessel. And that meant Clark really was _gone_. She felt sick and she couldn't take her eyes off him even as he was pulled into the ambulance.

"Is there somewhere I can take you?" Oliver asked, his voice quiet.

Chloe shook her head a little, her arms wrapped tightly around herself, "I need to find Mrs. Kent," she whispered, her voice breaking halfway through her sentence.

He shifted closer to her, hesitantly winding his arm around her waist. "Do you have any idea where she might be?"

She held her breath and started to shake her head then stilled, "she was going on a trip with my cousin."

Oliver gazed at her. "Where, specifically? Do you know?"

Pursing her lips together, Chloe shook her head a little, "they were working together."

"All right, let's...let's drive back to Metropolis," he said quietly. "And I'll see if any of my tech people can get information."

"You think they'd be able to?" She whispered, looking up at him for the first time since he'd gotten back.

"We can hope."

Chloe took a deep breath and nodded slightly, arms still tight around herself, "okay, let me... leave her a note in case she comes back here."

"Okay." He turned to face her. "Can I do anything?"

"Would you mind driving back?" She asked, her voice and expression both blank.

"No, I can do that," he said quietly.

With a slight nod, she turned around and started toward the house, stilling when she heard barks coming from inside. She rushed and opened the door, Shelby jumped up on her instantly and she leaned down and hugged the dog tightly, "it's okay," she whispered to him, her eyes tearing up once more as she petted him.

Oliver followed her to the porch, watching her for a moment before taking a seat on the swing and looking down at his hands, feeling it was probably best to let her have a few moments to herself. He didn't really know her, and he certainly knew nothing about the man she was grieving over, or what their relationship had been.

Chloe made her way into the kitchen, her stomach tight as Shelby followed her around. The house seemed completely still and she kept looking around, expecting Clark to just show back up and tell her she was crazy for letting them take him, that he just needed more time to heal. She didn't realize her hands were shaking until she picked up the pen and notepad from the counter. And then she just stared at it.

She had no idea what to write, she didn't want Mrs. Kent to find out from a note, so she kept it short, saying something had happened to Clark and that he had been taken to Smallville Medical Center. She only noticed she'd started to cry again when a tear hit the paper, blurring her name slightly. Chloe sniffed and wiped it away from the note then placed it on the fridge before starting to collect Shelby's things. She couldn't leave him there alone, and she didn't want to be there anymore, so she made it as quick as possible.

Once he had the leash on him, she picked up the bag of dog food and a copy of the keys from the counter then made her way out of the house once more, locking it up behind her.

He rose to his feet once more, smiling faintly when he spotted the golden retriever, and then looking at Chloe. "Ready?" he asked softly, reaching out and taking the bag of food from her.

"Thank you," she nodded a little and looked down at Shelby too, "I can't leave him."

"It's fine," he assured her, reaching down and gently petting the dog's head.

Shelby instantly licked Oliver's hand and sat down so Chloe tugged on his leash slightly, "c'mon, Shelby." She called, starting toward the car.

Worried, he followed her, exhaling slowly. He had a feeling the ride back to Metropolis was going to be very long.

* * *

Chloe had barely noticed they were back in Metropolis until the car pulled to a stop, with a deep breath, she reached for the door but before she could open it she heard someone calling Oliver's name and paused, looking toward the opposite door where the person was.

Bart glanced inside the car then at Oliver, "computers are back, where were you?"

"We made a trip to Smallville," he told Bart, glancing at Chloe and then back at the younger man. "Is the power back too?" he asked hopefully.

"No," he told them, glancing at Chloe too as she got out of the car and helped the dog out, "what's in Smallville?"

Oliver held his breath at that, falling silent.

Chloe didn't answer him either, she closed the door of the car and started toward the building then paused, waiting since she didn't know Oliver would be okay with Shelby going in.

He offered her a small smile. "It's fine, go ahead, Chloe."

She glanced at him then nodded a little, disappearing into the building a moment later.

Bart frowned at the exchange then looked up at Oliver again, "what's going on?"

"A friend of hers was killed," he said quietly, exhaling.

Bart's eyes widened and he stared at him, "what? Who?"

Oliver paused, gazing at him. "Clark Kent?"

The younger man stilled, his eyes widening even more and he shook his head, "no way, man. That's not possible."

"You knew him," he murmured, watching Bart intently.

"Yeah, that's how I know her." Bart said then shook his head, "I'm gonna go check on Clark, I'm sure he's fine."

"They took him to Smallville Medical," he said quietly. "But he's not okay, Bart. I wish he was."

"You saw him?" He asked, pausing.

"It looked like he'd been stabbed." He looked down at the floor.

"... But he can't..." Bart murmured.

"Because he's meta?" he asked quietly, trying to understand.

He swallowed hard and nodded slightly, staring up at Oliver, "he can't get hurt."

Oliver gazed at him intently, remembering Chloe's odd request to help her drag Clark into the sunlight. "Go check and make sure."

Bart nodded a little, looked around then vanished.

He drew in a breath and let it out slowly, rubbing a hand over his face. Then he slowly made his way into the building, looking around for Victor and AC.

AC had just helped an elderly couple upstairs and was coming back down to look for more people who needed shelter when he saw Oliver, "hey, we were looking for you dude."

"Bart said the computers were back?" He raised his eyebrows a little.

"Yeah, no power though. Vic is checking them out, apparently this thing started at the Daily Planet so he headed over there." He told him.

"Good. Hopefully we can get this sorted out," he said with a small smile. "How are you doing? Do you need to take a break? Go for a swim?"

"No, I'm good, trying to get as many people in before it gets dark," he explained, "are you staying here or are you going to your place?"

"I'm staying. I just went with this woman to Smallville," he said, sighing. "One of her friends was killed."

He frowned at that and nodded, "I guess it's bad all around."

"Yeah, apparently so. We're gonna be here awhile," he said quietly.

"At least we can make sure those people are safe," he nodded.

Oliver nodded. "When you need a break, come find me. I'll head out."

"Alright, but you should get some rest too, dude. You look tired."

"I'll see what I can do," he assured A.C., patting his arm as he headed past him, glancing around to see if he could see Chloe.

Chloe had sat down toward the back of the room, Shelby had laid down next to her, his head on her lap and she was staring blankly down at the dog. She just felt completely blank and disconnected, like this whole thing was just a horrible nightmare.

Oliver spotted her almost immediately, and stopped long enough to grab a bottle of water and a package of crackers before making his way over to her, getting stopped a couple of times to answer questions for people. Then he sat down beside her silently, holding out the water.

She glanced down at the water and took it, "thank you," she whispered, opening it and taking a sip before pouring some on her hand and letting Shelby drink it.

"I can find a couple bowls for him," he offered.

"Okay," she told him quietly. Normally she'd argue, say she'd do it herself, but she didn't really feel like it right now.

"I brought some crackers," he said softly, holding them out to her.

She shook her head slightly, "I'm not hungry," she told him quietly, closing the water bottle once again and setting it on the floor.

"All right. I'll leave them here in case you change your mind." He rose to his feet. "I'll just go find those bowls."

With a deep breath, she nodded a little, "thank you."

"Not a problem," he assured her quietly.

She sighed softly and nodded, leaning back against the wall and going back to petting Shelby.

* * *

After making sure all of the people under his watch were settled and all right for the coming evening, Oliver managed to take a short nap on his sofa in his office -- a short nap being two and a half hours, anyway. Feeling gross from wearing the same clothes for most of the last two days, he took a quick shower in his private bathroom, and changed into a pair of jeans and a shirt he kept handy in case he needed them. Then he made his way amongst the crowd once more, pausing when he spotted Bart sitting with Chloe, watching for a moment as they looked lost in a private conversation. Not wanting to interrupt, he made his way quietly toward the stairs with a flashlight, planning to take a look at the streets outside and see if chaos still reigned, or if things were starting to quiet down. He really hoped it was the latter.

Victor was standing outside, he glanced over his shoulder when he heard someone approaching and nodded at Oliver in a form of greeting.

"Hey," he said quietly, stepping out and greeting him in return. "Did you find anything out at the Planet?"

"It was pretty destroyed in there," he told him, looking at him after a moment, "whatever did this was pretty powerful, but I couldn't find any traces of the virus anywhere."

"It's gone then? Completely?" He raised his eyebrows, glancing at Victor and then looking around the quiet streets. Definitely an improvement from the previous nights.

"Yeah," he told him, sighing softly, "but we have a bigger problem."

Oliver frowned at that, not liking the seriousness in Victor's tone. "Which is what?"

"The Red and Blue Blur is dead." He told him, looking down.

He turned his head to look at the other man. "What makes you say that?"

"Bart saw him." Victor told him.

He stared for a moment, the pieces of the puzzle falling into place. "Clark Kent," he murmured.

With a deep breath, Victor nodded slightly, looking over at Oliver, "we all knew him. Bart, AC and I."

Nodding a little, he watched Victor closely. "And you and Bart know Chloe."

"So does AC, he actually knows her better than we do, he spent more time in Smallville than we did." He told him.

"And she knew about Clark," he murmured.

"We're not sure," he told Oliver, "we assume she did."

"She seemed to think he would heal if he was brought into the sunlight. She knew he was meta," he said quietly.

Victor nodded a little and took a deep breath, "okay, that makes things easier."

"Yeah." He fell silent, staring out into the night. "It's quieter tonight."

"Yeah," he agreed quietly, "seems like a lot of people calmed down after the computers returned to normal, hopefully we will have electricity again soon."

"That should help end most of the chaos," Oliver commented, rubbing the back of his neck. "How are you doing?"

"Alright," he told him, "but I'm taking it slow to conserve power," he told Oliver, "you?"

"You should go rest," Oliver answered, worried. "Go take a nap in my office. I just got done doing the same."

"I will," he nodded a little, "I'll see you later."

Nodding back at him, Oliver exhaled slowly, leaning against the building and staring out into the night. If Clark Kent really was the Red Blue Blur, he'd been right when he'd told AC earlier that they would be staying for awhile. Because Metropolis was going to need all the help it could get.


	5. Chapter 5

A couple of days had gone by and while Chloe still felt numb about everything that had happened at the farm, she had things to focus on and that had kept her going. She had been staying at the Talon apartment since the dorm wouldn't allow her to bring Shelby in but she had had no choice but to drive back to Metropolis today.

The power was back and she wanted to go by the Planet and see what was going on, but more importantly, she had to find Mrs. Kent and Lois and there was only one person who could help her, apparently. She just hoped he hadn't left town.

Awkwardly but determinately she walked out of the elevator and spoke with Oliver Queen's assistant, telling her she needed to see him then waiting as the older woman called into his office.

Oliver was seated at his desk, on the phone when he spotted the pretty blond. Offering her a smile, he waved her in. "No, I'll need to get that shipped here as soon as possible," he said into the phone. "Thank you. I'll be in touch." He hung up and looked up at her. "Chloe. How are you?" He rose to his feet.

She took a deep breath and closed the door behind her, nodding a little and trying for a smile, "I'm okay," she said, approaching his desk, "how are you?"

"I'm all right," he told her. "Would you like something to drink?"

Chloe shook her head a little, "no, thank you."

Oliver nodded and motioned her to the sofa. "What can I do for you?" he asked gently, moving to sit beside her.

She took a moment then sat down on the offered seat but on the edge of it, sitting up, "Mrs. Kent and my cousin are still missing."

"That is troubling," he said quietly, watching her. "They were heading to D.C.?"

"Yeah," she said quietly, "I asked at the airport and according to them, the Luthor jet took off just before the chaos."

"They were on the Luthor jet?" he asked in surprise.

"Mrs. Kent used to work for Mr. Luthor, apparently she asked him as a favor." She told Oliver quietly, "I traced the last of my cousin's phone calls and she kept calling the airlines they had booked with so I'm guessing there must have been a problem."

Oliver considered that for a moment. "Let me see if I can pull a few strings and get the company to track her GPS signal."

"I appreciate it," she said, nodding a little, "but in case that doesn't work, I was hoping to ask you for a favor."

He cocked his head, watching her. "Go ahead."

"It seems that your satellite was the only one that stayed up during all of this," she told him quietly, "I figured maybe if I could look at the feed, I could track down where their plane is," because she refused to believe the two of them were gone too.

"Absolutely," he said without hesitation, nodding as he rose to his feet. "I'll have the satellite feed up in minutes."

Her eyes widened a little and she nodded, standing up too, "thank you."

"You're welcome. I just hope it will help." He moved over to his computer and sat down at it, typing in a few commands and glancing at her as he pulled up the feed.

She walked up to him then hesitated, standing on the opposite side of his desk, "if you want to send me what you have or... give me access to the link, I can take a look at it, I don't want to take up anymore of your time than necessary."

"It's fine," he assured her, motioning her around so she could look.

Chloe made her way around the desk and took a deep breath, "they should have left here around five."

Oliver nodded a little, tracking the time and moving aside a little so she could see for herself.

Holding her breath, Chloe leaned closed to the screen, pointing without touching it, "there, that should be the plane."

He shifted the keyboard toward her. "Feel free," he said, watching her closely.

She glanced at him then nodded a little and stepped closer, starting to click then typing as she zoomed in on the plane, "there they are," she murmured, then pressed forward, clicking on the screen and watching as it followed the plane.

Oliver watched, as well, his eyebrows furrowing as the plane did an abrupt turn in it's otherwise Eastward course. "What the hell," he murmured.

Chloe's stomach clenched as she noticed it too, she glanced at Oliver then looked back at the screen.

"Any idea?" He asked, looking worried.

"No," she whispered, keeping her eyes on the plane.

Oliver chewed the inside of his cheek, keeping his eyes on the screen and falling silent.

Chloe's heart was racing as she watched the plane, her eyes widening as she watched the plane approaching the arctic and all of the sudden, crashing. She didn't move, didn't say anything, just watched the video for a long moment. "No explosion," she murmured, swallowing hard, "can you send me that exact location?"

He was staring at the feed. "They must have lost communication with the towers when the electricity went out." He typed something into the computer, and a second later, the coordinates appeared.

Forgetting all about manners, she grabbed a piece of paper from his desk and a pen and wrote it down. "Thank you."

Oliver rose to his feet. "You're welcome to my jet."

She hesitated then smiled a little, shaking her head, "I'll figure it out, thank you again," she told him, adjusting her purse over her shoulder then starting toward the door as fast as she could without running.

He blinked a few times in surprise, watching her go. Somehow he had a feeling she had more secrets than even he realized.

* * *

Just a little over three hours, Chloe was shivering and shuddering with cold. She had used the key at the Kawatche caves and made her way up to the arctic. The plane had crashed less than half a mile away from the fortress. She could only hope Lois and Mrs. Kent were conscious so she could help them back to Kansas without having to drag them through the snow. She could see the plane, but having snow up to her knees was making it hard for her to walk.

She managed, however, after a big effort, "Lois!?" She called as she pulled the plane door open all the way, luckily the crash seemed to have loosened it and it hadn't been too hard, "Mrs. Kent?" She tried again as she walked inside the plane, eyes widening as she saw both women on the ground. She felt their pulse then started to shake them awake, "Lois? Wake up," she murmured, then did the same with Mrs. Kent.

Lois groaned a little as she swam toward consciousness, her head pounding. "Chloe?" Her voice was confused.

"Yes," she whispered, looking around and picking up a blanket from one of the seats and wrapping it around her cousin as she hugged her slightly, "you need to wake up."

"What happened?" She winced a little, struggling to sit up.

"The plane crashed," she whispered, helping Lois up then picking up another blanket and wrapping it around Mrs. Kent as she tried to wake her up again, "Mrs. Kent?"

The older woman remained still and silent.

Lois swallowed hard, blinking a few times to clear her vision and shivering involuntarily. "I didn't know D.C. was going to be this cold."

"We're not in D.C." Chloe told her, frowning, "where is your suitcase?"

She rubbed a hand over her face and looked around. "I think that's it," she said, nodding slightly toward a fallen piece of luggage before looking at Mrs. Kent. "Mrs. K? Can you hear me?"

Chloe stood up and picked up the suitcase, opening it and finding a couple of warmer clothes then handing them to Lois, "wear those," she told her then looked around for a moment, walking toward the small bar and hoping not all of the bottles had been destroyed.

Shivering, Lois managed to tug the sweater Chloe handed her, on over her head. "Where are we? And how did you find us?"

"I'll explain later," Chloe lied, reaching for a bottle of whiskey and taking it to Mrs. Kent, "help me sit her up."

Frowning, but obeying, Lois propped Martha up carefully, holding onto her.

"It's supposed to help warm up the body," Chloe explained, lifting the bottle to Mrs. Kent's lips and carefully helping her drink it.

"Believe me, I know about whiskey," Lois responded, grimacing a little. "Come on, Mrs. K."

Martha groaned softly, turning her face away from the bottle.

Chloe pulled the bottle away quickly and wrapped the blanket tighter around Mrs. Kent, "I'll see if I can find food for you two." She had the feeling any water would be frozen solid, she was surprised the alcohol wasn't.

Lois nodded, hugging Mrs. Kent close for warmth and watching her cousin. "Are _you_ all right?"

Martha groaned quietly and sat up a little more, "Lois? What happened?"

"The plane crashed, apparently," she told her.

Clearing her throat a little, she looked around tiredly, "where are we?"

"Mrs. Kent," Chloe called, her stomach turning as she brought over some crackers, "here, the two of you need to eat."

"Thanks, Cuz," Lois said, reaching out and taking one of the packages of crackers, ripping them open and munching on them quickly.

"Chloe?" Martha frowned, lifting a hand for the offered crackers, "what are you doing here?"

"I found out about the plane, I came to help," she said quietly, holding the other woman's gaze, "we're in the arctic, in the middle of nowhere." She explained, hoping she'd get it because they would have to knock Lois unconscious to get her back.

Lois looked between the two of them, utterly confused. "The arctic? How the hell did we end up here?"

"I'm not sure," Chloe said, looking between the two of them. "Can you walk?"

Martha got Chloe's message loud and clear then nodded, "I think so," she said, eating the crackers before attempting to stand up.

"Yeah, I can feel my legs, so that's a good sign, right?" Lois winced a little, rising to her feet.

"Yeah," Chloe told Lois, trying for a smile before offering Mrs. Kent her hand. Her stomach, chest and throat suddenly felt tight as she remembered Clark but she couldn't focus on that right now.

Martha stood up and nodded a little, "I think I can too."

"Wait a minute. Chloe, how did _you_ get to the arctic?" She stared at her cousin.

Chloe paused and looked over at Mrs. Kent, holding the older woman's gaze for a moment.

Martha nodded slightly and looked around, picking up her purse and hitting Lois' head with it.

Chloe stepped forward and caught her cousin, sighing softly, "sorry, Lo." She murmured, turning her and holding her under her arms then, with Mrs. Kent's help, starting to drag her outside the plane.

* * *

The past few days felt like an eternity but also like time had flown by. Once Chloe helped Mrs. Kent and Lois back and the doctors had checked both of them out, Chloe told Mrs. Kent about Clark. It had been, by far, the hardest thing she'd ever have to do so she was grateful when the doctor who had examined Clark when he was brought in came into the room to help her.

Since then, the three of them had been mostly quiet. Chloe and Lois were staying with Mrs. Kent to help her with the arrangements and the three of them had driven in for the funeral together. Chloe was surprised by how many people were there. A lot of the streets in Metropolis were still blocked and driving around wasn't as easy as it should be. But she was glad to see so many familiar faces there. If Clark was there, she would be pointing out to him just how much he meant to all of those people and she knew he would smile, shrug and shake his head.

She had seen more than a handful of classmates that had moved away from Smallville after graduation and most of the ones who hadn't. Bart, Victor, A.C. and surprisingly even Oliver Queen had made it to the funeral too as had Mr. Luthor. She hadn't seen Lex anywhere, but Lana was there, front and center, holding on to Mrs. Kent's hand.

It had been hard to pay attention to the ceremony, she couldn't fully make sense of what had happened yet, but by the time she realized what was happening, the priest was closing his bible after wrapping everything up and Mrs. Kent was stepping forward, throwing a handful of dirt over Clark's coffin. People started to walk away, but Chloe didn't move even as Lois did, she didn't feel ready to leave just yet.

"I can't believe you had the nerve to show up here," Lana whispered as Lois led Mrs. Kent away. Her eyes were red-rimmed and glassy, her face paler than usual.

Chloe blinked, reluctantly lifting her gaze from the coffin to focus on the other woman, "Lana?" She said quietly, surely she had heard her wrong.

A.C. and Vic had already headed away, but Bart and Oliver had remained on the other side of the casket, and Oliver paused.

"You _knew_ Lex wasn't himself and you _let_ Clark go after him anyway!" Her voice rose a little.

She stared at Lana in disbelief, "I don't think this is the place to have this conversation."

"Of course you don't. God forbid you have to accept any responsibility for your actions," Lana snapped.

" _My_ actions?" Chloe frowned, staring at her, "you think if I knew this was a possibility I would have let him go anywhere? The last thing I wanted was for him to get hurt, Lana."

"If you had stopped him, he'd still be here right now and not _dead_." Her voice was choked. "This is _your_ fault, Chloe. And I'll never forgive you for what you've done."

Chloe's jaw clenched as she stared at Lana, she couldn't believe what she was hearing and now the fact that Lana had all but shoved her aside so she could stand next to Mrs. Kent suddenly made sense, "I would _never_ have done anything that could put him in danger, or have let him do anything that could have this outcome. Unlike you, I was by his side the entire time, you're the one who turned his back on him and ran to Lex."

Lana lifted her hand and slapped Chloe hard across the face. "It's your fault Clark is dead," she whispered. "Don't _ever_ forget it."

"That's enough."

She gasped, staring at Lana in shock, she heard the voice from behind her but paid no attention to it, "he didn't trust you," Chloe said tightly, "you didn't know him like I did and now I'm _glad_ he didn't tell you the truth," she whispered, her voice shaking with anger, "you don't deserve it, you never deserved him."

Lana started toward her, only to be caught and held back by a strong arm around her waist.

Oliver stared down at her. "I think it's time for you to leave," he said firmly, his jaw tense.

Chloe's eyes were filled with angry tears but she kept her eyes on Lana, daring her to say anything. She couldn't believe her, couldn't believe she would do or say something like this, _today_ of all days and _here_. She was just glad Mrs. Kent hadn't been there for it.

"Let go of me," Lana ordered, glaring up at Oliver.

"Touch her, and I'll have you arrested for assault, Miss Lang." He let her go, his gaze cold.

Lana glared at Oliver than at Chloe, "don't forget what I said." She told her before walking away.

Chloe didn't bother with a reply, just glared at her as she left then let out her breath, rubbing her hand over her face and looking down.

"Are you all right?" His voice grew more quiet as he gazed at Chloe.

"Yeah," she breathed, dropping her hand and looking up at him, "thank you."

He shook his head a little, stepping closer to her. "She was wrong and very out of line."

She looked up at him then back toward the exit, "I'm just glad Mrs. Kent didn't see anything." She murmured.

Oliver hesitated a moment, then reached out and rested a hand on her arm. "Do you need anything? Is there anything that I can do for you, Chloe?"

Chloe sighed softly and shook her head, "thank you," she said again, "and thank you for helping me with the satellite images, I wouldn't have been able to find them without it. I'm sorry I left as abruptly as I did."

"It's all right. I'm glad you found them." He gazed at her.

"Me too," she said quietly, looking up at him once more, "thank you for coming."

"Of course," he said just as quietly, searching her eyes. "When things settle down, and...when you feel up to it. You should come by my office. We can talk."

Chloe cocked her head a little and looked at him for a moment, holding his gaze. She had no idea what he could possibly want with her, but considering everything he'd done, she couldn't say no, "yeah. Of course."

"Do you have some place--you're not going to be alone tonight, are you?" There was genuine concern in his voice.

She tried for a smile then shook her head, taking a deep breath, "my cousin and I are staying with Mrs. Kent for the time being. She recently lost her husband too."

Oliver looked down, shutting his eyes for a moment. "All right. If there's anything I can do for any of you, please don't hesitate to let me know."

"Thank you, Mr. Queen," she said sincerely, her voice quiet, "you've done a lot for me in this past week."

"Oliver," he said softly. "You can call me Oliver." He offered her a small smile.

With a deep breath, she nodded a little and tried for a smile too, "Oliver."

He gave her arm a gentle squeeze. "Take care of yourself, Chloe."

"You too, Oliver." She said quietly, "I'll stop by your office next time I'm in Metropolis." She promised.

Oliver nodded slightly at that. "I'll see you then."

"Thank you for coming," she said again, taking a deep breath and starting back toward the cars. She would have to come by again later, when she wasn't so upset.

He watched her go, his chest tight. It definitely wouldn't be the last time he saw Chloe Sullivan.

Not by a long shot.


	6. Chapter 6

It had been weeks since the power and computers had come back online.

Weeks since Oliver had come to Metropolis.

The streets were still crime-filled, more so than usual, but he and the others were doing the best they could to keep the chaos and violence to a minimum. But none of them had the abilities that Clark Kent--aka the Red Blue Blur had. But that didn't stop them from trying.

But tonight, they boys were covering the streets of the city while he was on a different mission.

In retrospect, he probably should have at least let one of them know where he was going. But Oliver had worked by himself for a long time before meeting the others, and he knew he could handle a simple recon mission.

What he hadn't expected was to spot a small figure all dressed in black heading down the same corridor that he was.

Chloe's heart was racing as she looked around the dark corridors of LuthorCorp. She had broken into the Smallville facilities more than once before, but this was different. The Metropolis facility was much bigger and with much better security.

From the laptop she'd stolen from Lex the day of the blackout, she had found out that he'd been, unsurprisingly, researching Clark. He didn't seem to have anything concrete, however, so she was taking some time until she felt more focused before doing any in-depth investigation, but then something happened and she couldn't wait anymore.

She hadn't been to Clark's grave since the day of the funeral. She hadn't been able to go, she'd been focusing on taking care of Mrs. Kent, on ignoring Lana and on stopping Lois from trying to kill her. She knew she shouldn't have told her cousin about what had happened, but she had been so upset, so angry about it, she had to tell someone.

But she had finally found herself at the cemetery that afternoon. She had spent the day at the Planet and wrapped up her story early and then on the drive back, she had stopped by to talk to him. That was when she saw it. His grave had been dug up, the coffin was gone and so was the tombstone. Like he had never been buried there in the first place. And there was only one person powerful, hateful and spiteful enough to do something like that. She just needed evidence before facing him.

And that was why she was there. During her research on his laptop, she had found a secret wing, like the old 33.1, and she knew part of his research on Clark was there.

Oliver heard footsteps approaching, footsteps that weren't _hers_ but someone else. _Shit_. He quickly pulled his bow, nocking an arrow into it and taking aim, watching as she suddenly froze, spotting him.

Chloe stilled, holding her breath as she saw a shadowy figure a few steps away. She knew the other person had spotted her, he had stilled too, so without thinking about it, she started to run in the opposite direction.

 _Dammit!_ "Get down!" he ordered, his voice distorted.

His order just caused her to run faster, her heart racing, she should have planned this better, should have double checked the security schedule.

"Well, what do we have here?" The guard that had been approaching reached out, grabbing her without warning.

Chloe gasped, eyes widening as she nearly bumped right _into_ said guard. "There's someone," she tried, taking a deep breath and trying to look innocent, "someone was following me, I was working late."

"Uh huh. Do I look like I was born yesterday?" he asked, sneering at her and yanking on her arm. "You're coming with me."

"Actually, she's not." Oliver pulled back on his bow, letting the sedative dart fly and watching as it hit its mark--the guy's left shoulder.

She ducked as she felt something flying right past her head, and then she stilled as she recognized the distorted voice. Closing her eyes and suddenly feeling very stupid, she took a deep breath, "it's you," she muttered. Since he'd saved her on Dark Thursday she'd been reading every single piece of article she could find on the mysterious archer.

"And it's you. Again." There was the faintest hint of amusement in his tone as he walked toward her.

Chloe turned around slowly and swallowed hard, looking at him for a moment then down and behind her at the unconscious security guard, "thank you," she whispered, facing him, "again."

"Are you all right?" he asked, glancing down at the guard on the floor.

"Yeah..." she said quietly, "what are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," he pointed out, watching her intently.

"I appreciate you helping me. Twice." She said firmly, watching him with narrowed eyes, "but I'm not about to trust a masked vigilante with my secrets. For all I know, you work for them."

"And if I told you I was here to work on pulling the rug from out beneath Lex Luthor?"

Chloe blinked, arching her eyebrows, "then I'd ask you why should I believe you?"

"Valid question. Do you trust me enough to come with me?" He cocked his head to the side.

"Where are you going?" She asked, hesitating as she took a step forward.

"Out of here. More guards will be on the way any second," he informed her, holding his hand out to her.

Chloe hesitated once more then slid her hand in his. She was so close, the secret room was just down the hall, but she couldn't risk getting caught and she couldn't drag this man in with her considering that place held a lot of information about Clark.

His fingers curled around hers gently and he led her toward the direction he'd been coming from, pausing when he heard footsteps now approaching from that way. _Shit._ He turned to her, tugging her against him and winding his arm around her waist before aiming his bow toward the sky. "Hold on."

Holding her breath, she wrapped her arms around his neck and looked over his shoulder in the direction the guards were coming from, wondering what the hell he was planning on doing.

A second later, they were propelled upwards quickly, far enough off the ground that the guards wouldn't see them as they dangled silently from one of the beams that supported the ceiling. He looked down, holding his breath and hoping she would remain quiet.

Her eyes widened and she looked down as the guard came into view then back at him, holding on to him as tightly as she could, holding her breath too as she did her best to remain as still as possible even though she could tell their faces were less than an inch apart.

His arm tightened around her just a little and he looked up to make sure the line holding them was secure, grateful that it appeared to be so. Then he looked down once more, watching as the guards made their way down the corridor and paused when they saw their fallen comrade.

"What the _hell_? Is this an arrow?" one of them demanded, yanking the dart from the man's shoulder.

Chloe had no idea how he was not only holding himself up in that position but holding her too on top of it. Her arms were so tightly wrapped around his neck, they were starting to shake.

"Shit, man, do you think it's that vigilante guy? The Blue Blur or something?" One of the guards asked.

"No, you idiot, he doesn't use arrows and they say he moves at the speed of light so he wouldn't need them anyway, would he?"

Oliver's jaw tightened ever-so-slightly, and he willed them to grab their idiot friend and move on.

"We better get out of here before he finds us."

Chloe's jaw clenched at the mention of Clark and she held her breath once more, closing her eyes and trying not to move.

"Got his legs?" One of the guards asked.

"Yeah, let's go."

He watched until they dragged him off, down the hall and around the corridor, then he slowly lowered them back to the ground, his arm still around her. "We need to move fast," he told her.

She nodded a little and pursed her lips together, taking a deep breath and slowly pulling her arms from around his neck, "where are the things you're looking for?"

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "I'm on a recon mission."

" _What_ are you looking for?" She pushed.

"Chloe, we don't have time to discuss this right now," he told her, grabbing her hand and pulling her down the corridor.

Chloe blinked and stared at him, her mouth falling open as he pulled her further away from the place she'd been headed, "wait a minute," she demanded, stilling and pulling her hand from his grip.

He nearly groaned as he turned to face her. "Shh," he reminded her, shaking his head.

Her eyes narrowed as she placed her hands on her hips, "how do you know my name?"

Oliver froze for a moment at that. _Way to go, Queen_ , he thought wearily. _Smart move._ "Can we please get out of here before we talk about this?"

"No," she told him, watching him closely and then something clicked. Bart had told her the day they'd found out about Clark that he was a meta human and that he'd been working with a few other people. Victor and Arthur being two of them. Oliver had told her that the boys worked for him, and the archer had been the one to take her to Queen Industries in the first place. He hated the Luthors and he knew not only how to fight, but he obviously had a thing about helping people.

Her eyes were wide as she stared at him in disbelief, "Oliver?" She whispered.

His own eyes widened a little at how quickly she'd put it together. But he didn't have time to stand there and be surprised. "Yes, now will you please let me get you the hell out of here?"

She hesitated then took a deep breath and nodded slightly. If he was a vigilante, then maybe she and the others could help her break in again, anyway, it was better to trust him than to get caught.

He breathed a sigh of relief as he led her out the back exit. "How did you get here?" he questioned, wondering if she'd brought her car, or if she'd found another way.

"I walked." She told him, walking quickly with him.

Nodding, he led her to where his bike was parked. "Ever been on one?" he asked, picking up his helmet and holding it out to her.

Chloe stared at him for a moment then shook her head, taking the helmet and wearing it without questioning him this time.

He climbed on the bike after securing his bow on his back. "Get on and hold on," he told her.

She climbed behind him, adjusting the messenger bag she had over her shoulder before holding on to his leather vest but keeping her distance so she wouldn't poke herself in one of the arrows sticking from his back.

Once he was sure she was secure behind him, he started the engine and pulled away quickly, driving more carefully than normal, his hands tight around the handles as he tried to process the fact that she knew his identity. As he tried to figure out what the hell he was going to _say_ to her when they actually stopped.

Chloe was also trying to process the information. The fact that Oliver Queen of all people was the vigilante who had saved her life twice now and one of the men who had been helping Metropolis since the Blur, well, disappeared as far as the citizens of Metropolis were aware.

He drove them several miles outside of the city, stopping when he felt like they were far enough away to be safe. He pulled the bike off to the side of the road, letting out a breath as he cut the engine.

She climbed off the bike a moment later, looking around once she had pulled off the helmet then looking back at him. They were in the middle of nowhere but at the same time, not that far from Suicide Slums, so she wasn't sure the was the safest place for him to pull over.

He climbed off the bike, as well, and turned to face her silently before pushing his hood back and pulling his night vision glasses off.

Pursing her lips together, Chloe stared up at him but remained silent, helmet still in her hands. His wasn't the first secret identity she had uncovered without his consent, but it had been the first one she had managed on her own.

"So." His voice was quiet.

"Yeah?" She asked, her voice also quiet. If he was anything like Clark, she knew he was probably freaked out.

A faint smile touched his mouth and he shrugged a little. "Just breaking the awkward silence."

Chloe looked down and placed the helmet on the bike then took a deep breath before looking at him again, "I won't tell anyone," she promised quietly, "I know you have no reason to trust me but, I've kept secrets bigger than this before."

"I know," he told her just as quietly, watching her closely.

Her chest was tight even as she spoke with him, she couldn't _not_ think about Clark and how he had reacted when he found out she knew, staring at him, obviously scared. "How do you know?" She whispered.

"The guys," he admitted softly. "They said that the Red-Blue Blur was gone. It was the same night we found..." His voice trailed off and he shook his head a little. "I wish I would have had the chance to meet him."

"Oh," she whispered, her chest tight as she looked down and wrapped her arms around herself. "I wish he had met you too," she whispered, her voice shaking slightly, "I know he felt alone."

Oliver took a step toward her. "He had you," he said gently. "I'm sure that helped more than you know."

Chloe held her breath and sniffed slightly, keeping her head down, "I hope it did."

He gazed at her. "I have no doubt."

Her chest was painfully tight, between how little she'd been sleeping lately, how much she missed having Clark around and seeing his grave earlier today then failing to retrieve the information because _he_ wasn't around to help her, she really didn't think she could talk about this without breaking down. So she forced herself to take a deep breath and pull it together. She just had to make it through this conversation.

Finally, she lifted her head to look up at him once more, "like I said, I don't plan on telling anyone, much less making it front page news."

"I wasn't worried," Oliver said honestly, meeting her eyes.

She nodded slightly, holding his gaze, "thank you."

He offered her a small smile. "I think we have some things in common, and...maybe we can help each other."

Chloe swallowed hard, mostly pushing down and away the urge to let her feelings take over and focused on his face, "how?"

"By working together," he said quietly.

"Against Lex?" She whispered, watching him and now frowning slightly.

Oliver paused. "Lex definitely needs to be stopped."

"Yes," she told him then took a deep breath, "and I know I can't do it on my own but... there are things I can't tell you. Things about Clark and Dark Thursday." She told him bluntly, she knew she needed his help but she had to be honest with him about this.

He shook his head, holding up a hand. "You don't have to. I would never ask you to," he assured her.

Pursing her lips together, she nodded slightly, watching him, "okay. Then what should we do?"

A faint smile touched his mouth. "For tonight? Get some rest. I'd like to talk to the guys, and let them know what happened, and...then I think all of us should meet. Does that sound all right?"

She looked at him worriedly for a moment then shook her head slightly, "the reason I was at LuthorCorp," she said quietly, "it can't wait, Oliver."

He paused at that. "Why were you at LuthorCorp?"

Her jaw clenched at that and she stared up at him, "Clark's body is gone."

Oliver's eyes widened. " _What?_ "

"Lex was already suspicious that he had powers," she told him, her voice tight, "I don't have any proof, but I can't think of anyone else who would do that."

He stared at her for a long moment. "All right. We'll go to my place, I'll call the guys in, and we'll meet tonight."

"Are you sure?" She said, eyes widening, "are they even in town?"

He nodded a little. "We've been here since that day," he told her.

"No you haven't," she told him, frowning slightly, "I stopped by your office a couple of days after the funeral and your assistant said you had an emergency out of town."

Oliver winced a little. "I had to fly back to California for a work-related issue at the central office. But the others were still here."

"Oh," Chloe nodded a little then took a deep breath and reached for the helmet once more, "we shouldn't waste anymore time, then."

He nodded, as well, climbing back on the bike and starting the engine, his heart beating quickly in his chest. He hoped that the guys trusted him and his judgment enough not to get upset with him for bringing Chloe into the fold so quickly. He'd been discussing the issue with them in the months since Clark had died, but he hadn't even seen the woman since the day of Clark's funeral. He hoped that they would be all right with it. Because frankly they were going to need all hands on deck to take down Lex Luthor.


	7. Chapter 7

If the situation was any different, Chloe would be incredibly nervous as she and Oliver waited for the rest of the team to show up. As it was, she just wanted to check with them if they were willing to help. If they weren't, she planned on using the last few hours of the night and making her way back into LuthorCorp herself, with or without Oliver's help. She knew one of Clark's biggest fears was to get experimented on and she sure as hell wasn't going to let that happen.

"Do you want something to drink?" Oliver offered as he returned to the living room area of his clock tower suite, now wearing regular clothes once more.

Her heart sank a little when she realized he had changed, but she shook her head. "Thank you." Maybe she would have to go back there on her own after all.

He gazed at her. "You know we can't go back to that facility tonight, right?"

Chloe blinked and looked back at him, her gaze locking on him a moment later, but she didn't say anything, just waited for him to go on.

He took a few steps toward her. "The guards will have called in reinforcements, contacted Lex, and any information that may have been there will already have been moved."

"Maybe it won't have been moved _yet_ ," she told him, jaw clenching slightly, "I can't risk letting him move him and then not being able to find him anymore, Oliver."

"Chloe." He shook his head. "Even if it hasn't been moved yet, there are guards swarming the entire place as we speak." He paused. "I bugged the facility when I was inside."

Her eyebrows rose at that, "cameras or just microphones?" She asked.

"Cameras with microphones," he told her, moving over to his desk and pressing a button on a remote he picked up. Several screens dropped down from the ceiling, revealing the feed from the different rooms and corridors.

She blinked and looked up at the screens then over at him before focusing on the screens back again, "how many did you leave behind?"

"One for every room and corridor I was in before I found you," he told her. "Untraceable."

Holding her breath she stepped forward then looked at him again, "do you mind if I--?"

"No, go ahead," he told her, holding out the remote.

She took the remote from him and flipped through the cameras, pausing when she found the one she wanted. He'd been coming from the opposite direction, down the corridor she'd been headed to, down the corridor which held the secret room. A moment later, she held her breath and paused at the camera that was facing a wall. "Here." She told him.

Oliver moved closer to her, watching the screen intently.

"There is a room behind this wall," Chloe glanced over at him, "I assume this is real time?"

"It is," he confirmed, nodding a little and raising his eyebrows.

"Is it recording or just the live feed?" She asked.

He smiled a bit at that. "It's recording onto two different machines," he assured her.

Pursing her lips together, she nodded a little then using the remote, rewinded the video, "the security guards shouldn't know anything about this, it's where Lex has been hiding his secret projects, including information about Level 3 and 33.1."

"You think that's where he's keeping Clark?" His voice grew quiet.

"No," Chloe admitted, "but I think he is keeping all the information he has there and possibly a location about where Clark is," she told him, glancing at him, "I found out about this place from the laptop I stole the day after Dark Thursday."

Nodding a little, he glanced at her, his arm just barely brushing against hers. "I found out about it from a tiny bug in Lex's light fixture at his office."

She arched her eyebrows once more, impressed, "let's hope he doesn't find anything about any of this anytime soon."

"This is why we need to all work together. The sooner we can remove Lex from the picture, the safer the world will be."

Chloe watched the feed until it was over, she stilled and hit play again, watching the wall for a moment longer. Nothing had happened yet. With a deep breath, she turned to look at him again, "trust me, I know." She told him quietly, "but I can't take the chance this time and wait, Oliver. One of Clark's biggest fears was to be experimented on. I have to stop him." Her voice shook a little, "I can't fail him again."

Oliver's expression softened at that. "Chloe, I understand that," he said softly, turning to face her. "But you see the amount of security that's in that building, right?" He gazed at her intently. It had easily more than doubled. "I don't think that a guy like Clark would want you to risk your own life by going in there again tonight without even knowing for sure there's information that you're looking for there." His voice grew softer.

She swallowed hard and for the second time that night, forced herself to take a deep breath and try to calm herself down. "I just need to find him."

"We will," he whispered. "You have my word on that. We _will_ find him, Chloe."

Pursing her lips together, she looked up at him and began to nod then stilled when she felt a very familiar strong wind hitting her. Her eyes widened and she held her breath, her heart racing as she turned around "Cla--" She began then stilled once more when she saw not Clark, but Bart standing there.

Oliver turned, as well, well familiar with the younger man's quick entrances and exits. "Hey," he said, nodding slightly.

Chloe's chest was extremely tight now and she turned to look at Oliver, barely managing to keep herself together, "do you have a restroom?"

"Hey," Bart greeted, frowning a little at Chloe then at Oliver.

His chest tightened at the expression on her face. "Yeah, it's down the hall, second door on the left," he told her quietly.

Nodding, she held her breath and made her way down the hall without another word.

Bart watched her suspiciously then shook his head, confused, "what's going on?"

Oliver let out a breath, rubbing the back of his neck as he watched her go. "She thought you were Clark," he said softly.

"Why would she--" Bart began then paused, frowning, "oh, because I ran?"

He turned to look at the younger man, offering him a small, sad smile. "Yeah, I think so. You want something to eat?" he offered, glancing toward the kitchen.

Bart shrugged a little, "yeah, but what's going on? Why is she here at this time of the night with the screens down?"

"She knows about me," he told Bart without hesitation.

"You told her?" He asked, shocked. Oliver had never told anyone that he knew of before aside from the team.

"She figured it out," he said with a shrug. "But she knew about Clark, kept his secret. I honestly believe that we'll be better off with her on our side."

"Well besides, she already knows about all of us," he told Oliver, shrugging a little, "I don't have a problem with it." He paused, "do you think I should go apologize, though?"

Oliver paused at that, offering him a small smile once more and shaking his head. "No, I think it's okay, Bart," he assured him.

"Right," he said quietly, then looked around, feeling a little awkward, "do you have any pizza?"

Nodding, he headed toward the kitchen. "Yeah, you want it cold or heated up?" he asked.

"Cold is fine," he told Oliver, following him, "are the others on their way?"

"Yeah. AC's finishing up patrol and Vic should be here any minute."

"Cool," he told him, taking the pizza box from him and picking up a slice just as the elevator reached the top floor once more.

Oliver drew in a breath and glanced toward the elevator, nodding at Victor. "Hey," he said with a small smile. "Thanks for coming."

"Hey," Vic greeted, "no problem, what's going on?"

He glanced at Bart, then back at Vic. "We're waiting on AC. Chloe's here. She figured out my whole double life thing, and..." He shrugged. "We've got some news."

"Bad news?" He asked, glancing at Bart then back at Oliver.

"Understatement," he admitted. "If AC comes in, catch him up, would you? I'll be right back." He offered Victor a faint smile, then headed down the hallway, knocking softly on the door. "Chloe?"

It took her a moment longer before she finally opened the door, she'd been trying to at least wait until her nose and eyes didn't look so red, "sorry," she said quietly, looking up at him.

"It's okay," he assured her softly. "I just wanted to make sure you were all right. I mean, I know you're not, but..." He looked down for a moment, then back up at her, his eyes sad.

She took a deep, shaky breath, "I just wasn't expecting, I should have been, Bart told me he could run faster than Clark but with him being missing and..." she swallowed hard and looked down again.

Oliver hesitated a moment, then stepped closer to her, wrapping one arm around her shoulders and hugging her gently. "I know."

Chloe stilled for a moment then held her breath and hugged him back. As much as she appreciated the comfort, it actually made it harder for her to keep it together so she pulled away a moment later, "thank you."

He nodded a little, gazing at her. "I hope that wasn't crossing any boundaries."

Her face softened a little and she shook her head, "no, it wasn't," she said sincerely, taking a deep breath, "I just, this isn't going to help anything. I need to pull myself together."

"Sometimes that's easier said than done," he said quietly, watching her for a moment. "Bart's having some cold pizza, and Vic just got here, so we're just waiting on AC. Are you sure you don't want something to eat or drink?"

She considered him for a moment, "I'll take some water."

"All right." He offered her a small smile. "If you still need a few minutes, it's okay." He stepped back out of the doorway.

With a deep breath she shook her head slightly and stood up straight, "no, it's okay."

Oliver nodded, then headed back down the hall toward where the guys were.

Rubbing her hands over her face, Chloe followed, she glanced at Bart, who was still eating as Oliver mentioned then at Victor, offering both of them a small smile.

"Hey," Victor greeted, smiling back at her.

AC stepped inside a moment later, looking around and raising his eyebrows a little when he spotted Chloe. "Hey."

Chloe shifted slightly between her feet and looked around the four of them, nodding a little at AC, "hi," she said then her eyes focused on Oliver, she couldn't be sure that there was anyone else working with them.

Offering her a small smile, he motioned to the sofa and the chairs. "Why don't we all sit down so we can begin?" he suggested.

All five of them started toward the living room area and once Chloe had sat down, Bart sat down next to her, offering her a smile.

She smiled a little at him then focused on Oliver again.

Oliver was the only one who remained standing, glancing around at everyone. "Let me start out by saying that Chloe knows about my secret identity," he said. "But I know we can trust her, so I'm not concerned. However, we do have another problem." His jaw tightened a little. "She went to the cemetery today to visit Clark, and his grave had been dug up. His coffin was empty."

AC stared at him with wide eyes. " _What?_ "

Chloe held her breath and nodded a little, glancing around at the others then focusing on Oliver.

"What the hell? That's messed up," Bart told him, looking at Chloe then back at Oliver, "bet you anything it was Lex."

"I agree," Victor said tightly.

"And if it was--and I tend to agree that it probably was, we need to find out where Lex is keeping him." Oliver looked around from one man to the other and then his gaze rested on Chloe. "And get him back."

Her jaw clenched slightly and she nodded, holding his gaze, "as soon as possible."

"I can start looking," Bart offered, standing up instantly, "I can search all of LuthorCorp's labs in no time," the second sentence was mostly said toward Chloe.

"That's a good start," Oliver agreed, nodding a little. "But be careful, and take one of the communicators with you."

"Yeah," Bart nodded then looked at Chloe again, "is it okay with you if I speed, gorgeous?" He asked.

Chloe held her breath and tried for a smile then shook her head a little, "Yeah, I just wasnt’ expecting it last time. Don't worry about it."

Oliver smiled faintly, then glanced at Victor. "I managed to plant a few cameras at a facility I was checking out earlier."

AC raised his eyebrows. "You went on a mission without us?"

Victor frowned at that and glanced at AC then back at Oliver, "yeah, I can look at them but I second his question."

"It was just recon," he told them, shaking his head. "I knew you guys had patrol under way."

"Yeah, but we didn't even know you were going," AC pointed out, frowning.

"And there could have been trouble." Victor said.

Chloe arched her eyebrows a little and glanced around them.

"I'm outta here," Bart announced, then sped out of the room, only pausing to grab his communicator.

Oliver drew in a breath, nodding a little. "You're right. I'm sorry," he said sincerely, glancing from AC to Victor. "Next time I'll let you know."

Victor nodded slightly then stood up, "I'll take a look at those videos," he said.

"Thanks, Vic," he said sincerely. "Help yourself to anything in the kitchen."

AC smiled a little at the apology, nodding and rising to his feet. "Want me back out there, keeping my ear to the ground?"

Oliver nodded. "Sounds like a good plan," he said, motioning to the communicators on his desk. "Go ahead and take one with you in case we need to have you somewhere else soon."

Nodding, AC moved over and grabbed one, heading for the elevator, then pausing and turning around. "Good to have you on board," he said to Chloe.

"Agreed," Victor said, smiling at Chloe then heading to the computers.

Chloe smiled softly at the two of them and nodded, "thank you," she said sincerely then stood up too and looked over at Oliver, "what should we do?"

"When's the last time you ate something?" he asked quietly.

She held her breath and shook her head slightly, "this morning," she told him. A cookie and coffee, but that counted. She'd felt too sick to eat after she saw...

"Come on," he said, draping his arms around her shoulders and guiding her into the kitchen. "You sit, I'll cook."

Chloe raised her eyebrows and shook her head a little even as she walked with him, "Oliver, you don't have to do this."

"Yes, I do," he told her, guiding her to a chair at the table and pulling it out for her.

She took a deep breath and reluctantly took a seat, "I'm not sure I'll be able to eat."

"Well, what would you like to _try_ and eat?" he asked.

"Do you have crackers or something like that?" She asked quietly.

He cocked his head to the side. "I think so. What about some chicken noodle soup to go with it?"

"Oliver..." she said quietly, frowning, "I can't let you worry about cooking on top of it."

A small smile touched his mouth. "Can I let you in on a little secret?" He lowered his voice, raising his eyebrows.

Pursing her lips together, she watched him for a moment then nodded slightly.

"I actually _enjoy_ cooking." He winked at her.

"You do?" She frowned, sincerely surprised.

Oliver nodded, pulling out a can of soup from the cabinet. "Yeah, I do." He pulled out a package of saltine crackers, as well, moving over to the table and handing them to her.

"He's pretty good at it, too," Vic informed her with a grin as he pulled open the fridge and grabbed a soda.

"Really?" She asked, glancing at Victor than back at Oliver, "are you the one feeding all of them?"

Oliver smiled at that, shrugging a little. "Guilty."

"Sounds like a really big responsibility," she told him, smiling softly as she sat back against the chair.

"Considering how much Bart eats, it is," he joked, winking at her again.

Vic glanced between them, raising his eyebrows a bit and smirking faintly before heading back toward Oliver's computer screens.

She smiled and nodded slightly, "I heard," Chloe told him, "Mrs. Kent said she had no food left in the house."

He smiled back. "Sounds about right. To be fair, I pay him well and he can get take-out of any kind--literally from anywhere in the world--in seconds."

"Yeah," she nodded a little, looking down then back at him, "the speed thing does come in handy."

Oliver gazed at her for a moment. "Are you still staying with Senator Kent?"

Chloe shook her head a little, "I'm staying with my cousin and sometimes at my dorm." She told him, "although we check on her as often as possible."

"That's good," he said softly, wondering who was checking on _her_.

"Lois, my cousin," she explained, "she's working with Mrs. Kent, so she's around her even when they go out of town."

Nodding a little, he watched her. "Are they out of town a lot?"

"Yeah," she told him, nodding, as she sat back against her chair, "they are in D.C. right now."

Oliver was quiet for a moment. "Classes haven't started back up at Met U, have they?"

She shook her head slightly, "I was taking a couple of summer classes but they canceled them because of the outage."

He considered that for a moment. "Why don't you stay here in one of the guest rooms?"

Chloe arched her eyebrows a little and frowned, shaking her head slightly, "why?"

Oliver moved over to sit down across from her at the table, deciding to go with complete honesty. "Because I don't think you should be alone," he said quietly. "Chloe, I know what it's like to lose people that you love, and I know how hard it is when you feel like you're completely alone. You don't have to feel that way."

She held her breath and looked down, she'd read all about his parents being killed in a plane crash when he was little, so she had no doubt that he knew all about it, "I'm not--" she began, pausing then looked up at him again, "I've been keeping busy."

"I have no doubt," he said gently. "I also know that only works for so long." He hesitantly reached across the table and rested his hand atop hers.

Chloe swallowed hard and looked at him, pursing her lips together, "it's easier."

"Being alone?"

"Staying busy."

Oliver nodded a little at that. "It is," he agreed quietly. "And I'm not saying you have to stop being busy. I'm just offering you my advice."

"And what is it?" She asked quietly, looking down at their hands then back at him.

"Not to isolate yourself," he said just as softly, giving her hand a gentle squeeze. "You're welcome here."

She hesitated and wrapped her fingers around his, "you barely know me."

"The guys have filled me in a bit," he confessed, gazing at her.

Chloe blinked and lifted her head to look at him, "a bit?" She echoed.

"Well, from when they met you," Oliver explained. "That you were Clark's closest, most trusted friend, and extremely smart." He smiled faintly.

She smiled a little at that and nodded, looking down at the table and at their hands, "something like that."

"And let's face it, we could all use good friends," he said softly.

Chloe took a deep breath and looked over at him, her eyes sad even as she tried to smile, but she managed a nod.

Oliver's chest tightened at the sadness in her eyes. "You don't have to stay here if you don't want to--or even if you don't want to all the time. But, if you wanted to stay whenever Lois was out of town, or you just...want to be around someone else...you're welcome."

"Thank you," she said quietly, pursing her lips together. She didn't know him all that well, but she could tell he was sincere about this. She had told him she knew the truth about him and he had barely freaked out about it at all. It was just hard to know so much about someone's secret and not really know much about them personally. And that went for all of the team. She knew the guys, but she wasn't close friends with any of them like she'd been with Clark when she found out his secret.

"I know you don't know me very well, but...well, really there's only one way to remedy that," he said with a soft smile. "And for the record, I was planning on telling you about my other identity."

She stilled at that, her eyes widening slightly as she stared at him, "you... were?"

Oliver smiled faintly, nodding. "Yeah, I was."

" _Why_?" She asked, confused and shocked.

"Because the guys trust you," he told her quietly. "And I trust them. And...my gut told me I could trust you, too, so..."

Her chest tightened a little both at the information and his sincerity, "thank you," she whispered, watching him closely.

"Thank _you_ ," he said softly.

"What for?" She whispered, searching his eyes.

"For being the kind of person that guys like us can trust," he said sincerely. "That makes you pretty special, Chloe."

Her chest tightened at that and she looked down, taking a deep breath, "thank you for trusting me." She murmured.

"You're welcome," he said softly, squeezing her hand gently before rising to his feet. "Let me get started on that soup."

She pulled her hand back and held her hands together, watching him, "are you going to have some too?"

A smile touched his mouth as he made his way to the stove. "Definitely. I'm starving."

"Okay," she said quietly then sat back against the chair, taking a deep breath and willing herself to relax. Focusing on the Planet helped a lot, but maybe if she could work there all day and help the team after hours, it would help. Not only with her hurting less and missing Clark, but also with feeling like she was doing _something_ to pick up where he left off and do him justice.


	8. Chapter 8

A couple hours later that same evening found Oliver and Chloe seated at his kitchen table, each pouring through printed files of information that he and the guys had found at previous 33.1 facilities in the recent past. He'd gone over all the information before, but he figured there was a chance Chloe might be able to point out something that he had missed. Sighing softly, and pinching the bridge of his nose, he scooted back from the table a little, stretching. "You want some more coffee?" he offered, glancing at her nearly empty mug.

She glanced down at her mug then took a deep breath, "sure," she started to answer when the same, familiar, strong wind hit her again. She didn't get her hopes up this time, however.

Bart paused and looked around the two of them for a moment, making sure Chloe was okay before looking at Oliver, "he's not anywhere."

Oliver turned to look at him, letting out a breath. "Oh."

Chloe stared at him, blinking, "you searched all the labs and facilities?" She asked, standing up.

Bart looked down and nodded a little, "even the mansion. Lex was there, sleeping."

He exhaled slowly, leaning against the sink. "Thanks for looking," he said quietly.

She wrapped her arms around herself and nodded slightly, "thank you," she told Bart.

"I should keep looking..." Bart said, watching Chloe worriedly then looking at Oliver, "he has to be somewhere, right?"

Oliver glanced at Chloe, then back at Bart. "Yeah. And Vic's still searching through the video feeds," he told him.

"There doesn't seem to be anything here either," Vic said, turning his chair around to face them, "there was a report about the disturbance the two of you cause, but no major flags were raised." He told them, "I don't know what else to think, but it might be time for us to start considering the possibility that Lex isn't behind this after all."

"Who else would go as far as to dig up the man's grave?" he asked, shaking his head a little, and gazing at Victor.

Chloe looked between the three of them but remained quiet, her face falling. She had absolutely no answers to that question either.

"Maybe we can ask at the cemetery tomorrow?" Bart suggested, "see if someone saw something."

Oliver rubbed a hand over his face, nodding a little. "Yeah. We'll get to the bottom of it."

Victor nodded, as well, rising to his feet. "I think I'm gonna hit the hay, recharge for the night."

"Do you want me to check any other places?" Bart asked, then frowned as Chloe walked away from the conversation without another word, at least she wasn't running this time.

He watched her go, sighing very softly and shaking his head. "No. Get some food, and get some rest, Bart," he said quietly.

Bart watched in the direction Chloe went for a moment then back at Oliver, "yeah, you get some rest too, bossman."

"Will do," he promised, offering Bart a small smile. "See you in the morning." He patted Bart's shoulder.

Bart nodded, then disappeared.

Oliver looked over to where Chloe was now seated on his sofa, knees pulled to her chest as she stared out the window. He watched her for a moment, then slowly moved to sit down beside her.

She remained silent for a long moment, even though she could feel his eyes on her, "they’re right," she whispered, but didn't move otherwise.

"You don't think it's Lex?" he asked quietly.

"I don't think he'd be home, sleeping if it was." She murmured, taking a deep breath and turning her head to look at him, "he'd be experimenting."

Oliver grimaced at that, but nodded a little, holding her gaze. "I think you're right."

"I can't think of anyone else who would do that," she whispered, resting her chin over her knee and looking ahead, "but I'll go see Mr. Luthor tomorrow morning."

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

She sighed deeply and closed her eyes, shaking her head. She just felt drained. Of energy, of hope. "what makes this so frustrating is that if he was here, he would have been able to track anything down right away."

"We'll figure it out. It may take us a little longer, but we're not going to quit," Oliver promised.

Chloe hugged her knees tighter against her chest and swallowed hard, "there is just so much only _he_ could do." What if Zod and Brainiac came back somehow? None of them were strong like he was, none of them knew as much as he did about his heritage.

He gazed at her for a long time. "You loved him." It wasn't a question.

Her throat suddenly felt tight and even though she tried to swallow the lump, she didn't seem to be able to, so she just nodded.

Oliver shifted closer to her, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and gently tugging her closer to him.

She kept her eyes closed but leaned into him this time, "he was my first friend in Smallville," she whispered, "he showed me around and took me to the farm the first day we met even though I told him I wanted to see it because I wanted to see what it was like to be Amish." She had no idea why she was telling Oliver that, but, the words just rolled out of her tongue.

He smiled faintly at that, resting his head against hers. "How old were you?" he asked quietly.

Chloe sniffed slightly, "twelve," she told him.

"And you guys were best friends since then?"

"Pretty much," she whispered, "we had fights and... Clark didn't tell me about his powers until last year. Well, I kind of found out before then." She sighed softly, "he still saved my life more times than I can count."

Oliver gently rubbed her shoulder. "All friends have fights," he said quietly. "I'm sure that Clark wouldn't want you to feel bad over any of the disagreements you may have had."

"I know," Chloe said quietly, not noticing that she shifted on the couch and was now resting her head over his shoulder, just how comfortable it was. "He was a really amazing person."

"Tell me about him?" he murmured.

She held her breath and turned her head, looking up at him, "what do you wanna know?"

"Anything you feel like sharing," he said, gazing at her.

Chloe pursed her lips together and looked back down, sighing softly, "he was my first kiss," she whispered quietly, "but I never told him that."

Oliver watched her. "Why not?" he asked just as quietly.

"I don't know," she whispered, hugging her knees tighter to her chest, "at first I guess it was because I was the girl from Metropolis and he was the farmboy." Chloe smiled a little then shrugged slightly, "then it just didn't seem important. He never saw me that way."

He rested his head against hers, listening as she spoke. "But you guys were close."

"He was my best friend," she said quietly, closing her eyes, "there used to be three of us, but our other best friend, Pete had to move to Wichita when his parents divorced a couple of years ago."

"Have you seen him lately?" he asked.

"Not since he moved." She took a deep breath, her body feeling heavy as she leaned more against his side, "we email and talk on the phone though."

"Maybe you should go see him," Oliver said quietly, tugging the blanket off the back of his sofa and wrapping it around her with one hand.

"Maybe," she said quietly, lowering her head as she yawned, "after we find Clark."

Oliver nodded a little. "Or maybe he could come here," he murmured, gently rubbing her back.

"Yeah," she murmured, her head heavy against his shoulder as she snuggled a little more against him and sighed deeply, starting to doze off.

He watched her for a moment, then shifted on the sofa so he was lying down, her head resting against his chest. He wondered how long it had been since she'd had a good night's sleep. He had a feeling it had been awhile. He hoped that tonight she could sleep for a few hours at least.

* * *

A few hours later, Chloe shifted a little on the couch, her body felt heavy, relaxed, but also stiff, like she hadn't moved at all since she fell asleep. Which was probably accurate considering how badly she'd been sleeping lately. She stirred a little then paused, frowning when she realized she wasn't in her bed.

Slowly, she opened her eyes and looked around. Apparently she had fallen asleep at the Clocktower. The massive clock just a few feet from her was hard to miss. She frowned a little more when she realized that while she was on the couch, it wasn't the couch she'd been laying on. It was a very firm body and she had only one guess who it belonged to.

Biting down on her bottom lip, she lifted her head to look up at him, her eyes wide. She'd been so comfortable the previous night, not only had she taken him up on the offer to spend the night there for company, she had apparently slept _on_ him.

Oliver shifted slightly beneath her as he felt her movement, his eyebrows furrowing a little. "You okay?" he murmured, squinting a little as he peered up at her.

The second he spoke, she sat up as well as she could considering she was pressed between him and his couch, "I-- yeah."

He yawned, rubbing a hand over his face, and sat up slowly, as well, watching her as best he could through sleepy eyes. "Coffee?"

Chloe adjusted on the couch, sitting down and pulling her feet down on the floor, "sure," she said quietly, watching him closely to make sure he wasn't mad or anything.

Oliver offered her a smile. "How do you take yours?" he asked, rising to his feet and stretching.

"Cream and sugar, milk is fine though," she said quietly before standing up too, still keeping her eyes on him.

"I have cream," he assured her with a wink before he headed toward the kitchen, starting the coffee pot, and yawning once more.

She swallowed hard and took a deep breath, looking down. She supposed this wasn't anything unusual for him, waking up randomly with someone he barely knew, so as long as he was going to act like it was no big deal, she figured it was better for her to do the same, considering she really couldn't mess up things with him. "Are the others here?"

"Not that I know of? I passed out pretty quickly last night," he confessed, turning to look at her with a small smile. "Do you want breakfast? I could fix pancakes or omelettes or something."

"Oh," she nodded a little, "I'm okay, you've done a lot."

Oliver shrugged a little. "If you're sure."

"I am," she murmured, watching him before stepping into the kitchen and looking around, "what time is it?"

He glanced up at the clock. "A little after eight," he told her.

"Do they usually sleep in?" She asked, biting down on her bottom lip.

He blinked, a little surprised about the question. "Yeah, especially after a long night." He gazed at her.

"Oh," Chloe took a deep breath, "I'll stop by LuthorCorp then and make my way to Smallville after."

Oliver frowned. "Are you sure someone shouldn't come with you, Chloe?"

"They won't do anything to me at LuthorCorp," she told him, "and I'm going after Lionel, not Lex."

He watched her for a moment. "Don't let your guard down. At this point he might not seem as dangerous as Lex, but when it comes down to it, Lionel Luthor is just as ruthless and callous as his son is any day of the week." His voice was quiet.

"I know," she told him, holding his gaze, "I don't trust him, but he knows Clark's secret, he might have answers."

"All right. Just be careful." He poured her a cup of coffee, showing her the creamer and sugar before he headed to his desk, picking up one of the communicators and bringing it into the kitchen, holding it out wordlessly.

Chloe arched an eyebrow and looked from him to the earpiece, hesitating before reaching for it as she raised her eyes to his face once more.

"Just in case. Bart can be there in a second and they'll never even know what happened." His fingers brushed against hers as he held it out to her.

She bit down on her bottom lip, her fingers touching his caused her heart to skip a beat so she pulled her hand back quickly, "okay,"

"Okay," he murmured.

"Are... you okay?" She whispered, sliding the earpiece into her ear.

"You need a codename," he told her, leaning back against the counter.

"I do?" She frowned, "do you have one?"

A faint smile tugged at his mouth. "Bossman's as close as we've gotten," he admitted.

Chloe arched her eyebrows, "then why do I need one?"

"Because. That way when we communicate remotely, if someone would hack the feed, no one knows your true identity," he said with a shrug.

"Okay..." she pursed her lips together, "do you have any suggestions?"

Oliver studied her for a moment, considering that. Then a small smile tugged at his mouth. "Watchtower."

"Watchtower?" Chloe echoed, cocking her head, "not bad but... why?"

"Because I think you've been watching over heroes for awhile, and...All Along the Watchtower is one of my all time favorite songs." He winked at her.

Her chest tightened a little but she smiled softly, looking down at taking a deep breath, "I'll have to come up with one for you, then."

"Fair enough," he said with a nod.

"I'll think about it," she said quietly, picking up the cream and pouring some of it in her coffee.

"All right." He paused for a moment. "Did you sleep okay?"

Chloe stilled at that and looked down, pursing her lips together, "yeah, thank you," she whispered, glancing at him out of the corner of her eyes, "did you?"

Oliver smiled, nodding. "Yeah, I slept fine," he assured her.

"I'm... really sorry, I didn't mean to just fall asleep on you like that." Literally.

"It's not a problem. I'm the one who laid down on the couch instead of carrying you to one of the guest rooms," he pointed out.

At that, Chloe raised her head and looked over at him, the hint of a frown appearing on her face, "I'm sure you were tired too."

Oliver nodded. "Yeah, I was," he admitted. "But the point is, there's no harm done, so..."

She pursed her lips together and nodded, taking a deep breath, "right," she told him quietly, picking up her coffee and sipping on it.

"Sure you don't want something to eat?" he offered again, pulling open the fridge door and pulling out the carton of orange juice.

"I don't ever have breakfast," she admitted, leaning sideways against the counter and sipping on her coffee once more.

"Oh." He poured himself a glass of juice and took a long drink, considering that. "You realize it's the most important meal of the day, right?" His voice held a hint of teasing.

She smirked slightly at that, "so I've been told."

"See, if multiple people have told you the same thing, you should probably listen." He smirked.

"I managed this far," she pointed out, arching her eyebrows a little.

"Touche." He nodded at her, grinning as he took another drink.

Chloe smiled softly then took a long sip of her coffee, "this is really good coffee."

"Brazilian," he told her, watching her intently. "Victor's also a fan."

"Good to know, I'll remember that," she said, taking one more, long sip, "I should get going."

Oliver held his breath for a moment. "All right. Be careful."

"I'll be," she told him and just as she was about to place the mug into the sink, the same familiar wind hit her, this time she looked up expecting to see Bart. And then she stilled when her eyes fell on him.

"Dude," he said, eyes wide, "I found him."

Oliver stared at him, his eyes widening a little as well. "Where?"

"Smallville," he said, looking over at Chloe.

Her jaw tightened and she stepped forward, "can you give me a ride?"

"And me afterwards," he spoke up, raising his eyebrows.

Bart nodded, glancing at Oliver then stepping closer to Chloe, picking her up and looking at Oliver once more before vanishing.

Waiting impatiently, Oliver finished off his juice and set the glass in the sink.

A moment later, Bart showed back up, "c'mon," he told Oliver, "you have got to see this."

Before he even had a chance to respond, Bart was setting him down on the Kent's porch. He blinked a few times, leaning against the wall for a moment before staring at the sight before him. Clark Kent stood at the opposite end of the porch, very much alive.

And hugging Chloe tightly.

Chloe could barely believe that he was actually there, her arms were wrapped around him so tightly, they were shaking a little. She'd tried to ask questions a couple of times, but she didn't seem to be able to speak just yet.

"He said a friend pulled him from his grave," Bart explained, telling Oliver quietly, "and healed him."

Oliver barely heard Bart, he was too busy staring. The man had actually _come back from the dead._ He had a feeling it was going to take some time for him to wrap his brain around that one.

"I can't believe you're here," Chloe murmured, her face still pressed against his chest.

"Me either," Clark admitted, hugging her back tightly, his eyes shut.

"Are you _okay_?" She whispered, turning her head up to look at him.

"I'm fine, Chlo," he assured her, offering her a soft smile, then pausing and looking up at where Oliver and Bart stood watching their reunion.

"He's fine," Bart assured Clark, motioning to Oliver.

With a deep breath, Chloe nodded a little and stepped aside as she reluctantly let go of Clark, "he was helping me."

Oliver raised his hand in a wave. "Oliver Queen," he introduced himself, moving forward and extending his hand for Clark to shake.

Clark stepped forward and nodded a little, "Clark Kent."

"Nice to meet you," he said sincerely, offering the other man a smile.

Nodding slightly, Clark smiled back, "thank you for helping."

Chloe pursed her lips together and watched the two of them, still not believing Clark was actually there.

"Absolutely." Oliver looked between him and Chloe, raising his eyebrows a little. "I'm sure you two have a lot of catching up to do."

She held her breath and nodded a little, reaching for the earpiece and holding it out to Oliver as she walked over to him, "thank you," she said quietly, "I would like to continue with our plans once we're done here."

"Take your time," he assured her quietly as he shook his head a little, refusing the earpiece. "And keep it."

Chloe looked down at the device then back at him, "are you sure?"

He smiled faintly. "Positive," he told her.

"Thank you," she told him quietly, pocketing the earpiece, "I'll talk to you soon?"

"You bet," he agreed, reaching out and giving her arm a gentle squeeze. Then he glanced back at Bart, raising his eyebrows.

"See you soon, gorgeous," Bart said, winking at her than at Clark, "and I hope you're up for another race soon?"

Clark smiled a little, sliding his hands in his pockets, "definitely."

Oliver looked over at Chloe once more, offering her a small smile. "Take care of yourself."

"You too," she told him quietly, smiling just in time for Bart to speed away, taking Oliver with him.


	9. Chapter 9

Chloe hadn't left Clark's side until Mrs. Kent and Lois flew back to Kansas the following morning. He had explained to her that some guy named J'onn, who apparently used to work for his biological father was now on Earth and was there to help and protect him, had taken him to the fortress and that the crystals had somehow healed him. He didn't know specifics and she didn't really care for once. What mattered was that he was back, healthy and now if he ever got hurt again, she would know exactly what to do to help him.

With that weight off her shoulders, she borrowed Clark's truck and made her way back to Metropolis. She should probably go home and get some rest seeing as she didn't get any sleep at all since she fell asleep on Oliver, but she knew she wouldn't be able to. Clark was back, and now she could focus on all the other things she and Oliver had talked about and hopefully, they would get some answers.

She made her way to the Clocktower this time. It was a Sunday, so she didn't think he'd be at his office, and pressed the button for the intercom in the elevator, then waited. She would have called, but she didn't exactly have his number.

"Come on up," he said over the intercom a moment later, then resumed his handstand, closing his eyes and focusing intently on his balance.

Chloe took a deep breath and waited for the elevator to make its way up, glad he was there. She paused at the gates and pushed them open but just as she was about to step into the apartment, her eyes fell on him and she stilled. He was upside down, shirtless and covered in a thin layer of sweat that was making his skin glister slightly and although she knew she should greet him, she could only stare.

Oliver flipped to his feet a couple moments later, grabbing a towel off the chair and turning to offer her a grin. "Hey."

"Hey," she greeted once she blinked and finally managed to look away, "I can come back later if you're busy."

He paused at that, raising his eyebrows. "No, I'm good." He grabbed his shirt after toweling off and tugged it on over his head. "I didn't expect to see you this soon."

"Well, his mom got there, I figured they'd want some time," she said quietly, turning her head slowly to look at him again.

He nodded a little, watching her. "So he's really all right?"

"One hundred percent," she said, taking a deep breath, "as if nothing ever happened."

"That's great." He smiled a bit.

"Yeah," she smiled, "hopefully now things will get back to normal, at least as normal as it can get in Kansas."

Nodding, he smiled back, gazing at her. "Hopefully," he agreed.

"Are you... planning on staying in Metropolis?" She asked, unsure. She knew he was from California but she knew he'd been staying because of everything that had happened and with Clark back, she wasn't sure what was going to happen with the team.

His smile slipped a little at that. "That's a good question. I don't know," he admitted. "If the Red-Blue Blur is back in action, I kinda doubt I'll be needed here."

Her own smile slipped and she shook her head, "there is no such thing as too many heroes," she said, almost hopeful as she looked down then back at him.

"No?" He gazed at her, his own eyes hopeful.

Chloe held her breath as she met his eyes once more and shook her head, "especially not with Lex around." And she knew Clark wasn't going to do much about Lex, even if he remembered Lex, well Zod, killing him.

Oliver held her gaze, nodding a little. "That's a good point."

She relaxed a little then smiled slightly, "besides, you did kind of invite me to join your team."

His smile brightened once more. "Yes, I did," he agreed.

Chloe grinned softly, a little shyly, "I think I can handle helping more than one superhero at a time."

"You do seem to be a pretty efficient person," he teased gently.

She made a face and smirked a little, shaking her head, "I'm much more efficient when I'm not an emotional mess, trust me."

"I do," he told her quietly.

Blinking, she looked over at him once more, pausing then smiling softly as she nodded, "thank you."

"Welcome," he said, smiling back. "Want something to drink? I still have some of that coffee you liked. Uh--not made, because I wouldn't give you day old coffee." He chuckled a little.

Chloe grinned a little and nodded, "sure," she told him then cocked her head, "there is something I wanted to run by you."

"Of course." He nodded toward the kitchen, heading in that direction. "What's up?"

"I have two codenames for you that I came up with," she said, smirking as she watched him.

Oliver raised his eyebrows at that. "Two?" he echoed, surprised.

She nodded slightly and arched her eyebrows, "I think Emerald Archer is classier _but_ Green Arrow goes better with Watchtower." She said.

He turned to face her after he finished setting the coffee to brew. "Green Arrow," he murmured, a smile tugging at his lips.

"Yeah?" She asked, arching her eyebrows a little more, watching him closely.

"Yeah. I think it suits." He grinned.

"Great," she grinned back at him, "so when I write my next article about Metropolis' newest vigilante, I'll use that."

Oliver raised his eyebrows, amusement in his eyes. "You mean I have my own personal reporter?"

"Someone needs to tell the world you're one of the good guys, right?" She asked, her eyes bright as she looked up at him.

"Right," he agreed, nodding. It was good to see the genuine smile on her face, the way her eyes lit up. She was breath-taking.

"If I'm your personal reporter," she said, watching him closely, "does that make you my own personal superhero?"

Oliver smiled at that. "I suppose it does," he told her, his own eyes bright.

"Great," she told him, smiling brightly up at him. Oliver had been a huge help while Clark was gone and now that she felt more like herself again, she wanted to do whatever she could to help him too.

"Great," he echoed, smiling back at her.

Chloe watched him for a moment then nodded a little, "is there anything I can help with? Something you guys are already working on?"

"Always," he admitted, pouring her a cup of coffee. "Right now Vic's working on tracking down all the locations of 33.1."

"How did you find out about that anyway?" Chloe asked curiously as she took the mug from him.

"The guys," he told her, shrugging a little and leaning back against the counter. "They didn't call it that, but I got the gist of what Lex was doing."

She took a deep breath and nodded a little, "he's been experimenting on meteor freaks, well, mutants for years."

"He's never exactly been right in the head," he said bluntly.

"Are you saying that from your high school experience?" She asked, arching her eyebrows then sipping on the coffee.

"I've known Lex since I was a kid," he told her. "But yeah. Most of it came from high school."

"Through your dads?" This time her voice was a little lower as she tried to understand.

"Yeah," he said, his own voice dropping a little. "My parents were acquaintances of his parents. Or, his dad, really."

She nodded slightly and took a deep breath, "he seemed like an okay guy when I first met him, he even helped me once but I guess that didn't last."

Oliver gazed at her. "Do you think he's a lost cause?" he asked seriously.

Chloe frowned a little at that and considered, "I don't know," she said sincerely, "he and Clark used to be really close, but they grew apart. Maybe if Clark could reach out to him once again... although now that Lex is with Lana, I don't know if I can talk him into it."

"Wait. Lana? The woman who attacked you at Clark's funeral and blamed you for his death? She's with _Lex_?"

She took a deep breath and nodded then arched her eyebrows, "she's also the love of Clark's life."

Oliver's eyebrows rose. "That is seriously screwed up."

Chloe smiled a little at that and nodded, arching an eyebrow, "you're telling me."

He gazed at her for a long moment. "You know, Chloe...it's his loss." His voice was quiet.

She paused at that, her face suddenly feeling warm so she looked down and nodded slightly, "thank you. But it doesn't matter, Clark and I are friends and that's more important to me than anything else. I wouldn't want to ruin what we have."

"Which means one day, some _extremely_ lucky guy is going to get a great surprise," He told her with a soft smile.

Looking back at him, she cocked her head, "they are?"

Oliver nodded. "I doubt he'll even see it coming." His eyes were bright.

"And what exactly would that surprise be?"

He grinned involuntarily at her non-understanding. " _You_."

" _Oh_ ," she smiled and shook her head, sipping on the coffee then shrugging, "maybe."

"Just trust me on this one," he told her with a wink.

Chloe cocked her head and looked at him for a moment then took a deep breath, "so how can I help with the 33.1?"

"Well, for starters, any information you have would be great. Even if it's from years ago. It'll help me get into his head and see how he works."

"I have a lot of it," she told him, taking a deep breath, "the experiments started years ago, at the Smallville LuthorCorp plant where my dad works. There was a secret level called Level Three and he was experimenting mostly just with meteor rocks then."

"Because they seemed to give people abilities?" He gazed at her.

"They _do_ give people abilities," she told him, "he was trying to figure out how."

"And when he couldn't figure it out, he started on the people who actually _had_ the abilities."

"That's my best guess," she told him, "he went from experimenting on the rocks to experimenting on humans." 

"Do you know if Level Three is still in operation?"

"No," she said firmly then arched her eyebrows, "but I can show you where it used to be."

A smile tugged at his mouth and he nodded. "I have a feeling that this is the beginning of an epic partnership, Watchtower."

Her eyes brightened at that and she nodded, "I hope so, Green Arrow."

Oliver met her eyes, then reached his hand out to shake hers.

She held his gaze and smiled a little more as she slid her hands in his. "Should we get to work?"

He gripped onto her hand, shaking it even as he nodded, not taking his eyes off her. "Let's get to work."


End file.
